North Korean troops facing heavy losses in Russia-Ukraine war, US claims

North Korean forces are experiencing mass casualties on the front lines of Russia's war against Ukraine, with a thousand of their troops killed or wounded in the last week alone in the Kursk region of Russia, White House spokesperson John Kirby has claimed.

"It is clear that Russian and North Korean military leaders are treating these troops as expendable and ordering them on hopeless assaults against Ukrainian defences," Kirby told reporters on Friday, describing the North Korean troops' offensive as "massed, dismounted assaults".

The number far exceeds the figure US officials have previously provided.

North Korea's mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Russia's UN mission declined to comment.

Kirby said President Joe Biden would likely approve another security assistance package for Ukraine in the coming days.

US support

Earlier this week, Biden condemned Russia's December 25 attacks on Ukraine's energy system and some of its cities and asked the Defence Department to continue its surge of weapons to Ukraine.

On December 17, a US military official said North Korea had suffered several hundred casualties while fighting against Ukrainian forces in Russia's Kursk region.

Asked about what ranks the North Korean casualties included, the military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said it was from lower-level troops to "very near to the top".

On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that more than 3,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed and wounded in Russia's Kursk region. He said that he was citing preliminary data.

It was not possible to independently verify reports of combat losses.