A Storm Shadow missile strike on a Russian Presidential Directorate in Maryino, Kursk Oblast, has resulted in significant military casualties, including numerous Russian officers from the Southern and Eastern Military Districts. The attack, on 20 November, targeted an underground facility and killed 18 military personnel, wounding 33 others. Among the dead was Lieutenant General Valery Solodchuk, First Deputy Commander of the Leningrad Military District. The strike wounded two male North Korean officers and a female translator. 13 Russian sappers, including the deputy chief of staff of the 88th Mechanized Brigade, were injured during efforts to neutralize unexploded ordnance at the site.
A senior North Korean general was wounded in a recent Ukrainian strike in Russia’s Kursk region, Western officials said Thursday. A Storm Shadow missile strike on a Russian Presidential Affairs Directorate sanatorium in Maryino, Kursk Oblast, has resulted in significant military casualties, including the death of a senior Russian commander, according to multiple sources.
The attack, which occurred on 20 November, targeted an underground facility and killed 18 military personnel while wounding 33 others, according to the Telegram channel Dosye Shpiona, known for providing insider information.
Among the dead was Lieutenant General Valery Solodchuk, First Deputy Commander of the Leningrad Military District, who previously commanded Russia’s 1st Army Corps of the so-called DNR in 2014, the channel reported. The strike reportedly also wounded three North Korean military representatives, including two male officers and a female member initially identified as a medic, though sources suggest she may have been serving as a translator.
According to Dosye Shpiona, the casualties included numerous Russian officers from the Southern and Eastern Military Districts.
In a subsequent incident, 13 Russian sappers, including the deputy chief of staff of the 88th Mechanized Brigade, were injured during efforts to neutralize unexploded ordnance at the site, Dosye Shpiona reported.
The presence of high-ranking personnel during the post-strike cleanup operations suggests the possibility of additional senior officer casualties beyond those initially reported.
It is the first time Western officials have said that a high-ranking North Korean military officer has become a casualty in the escalating Russia-Ukraine conflict.
More than 10,000 North Korean troops are deployed in Kursk as the Kremlin tries to repel Ukrainian troops who mounted an offensive there in August, U.S. officials have said.
The White House has condemned Moscow’s use of North Korean soldiers and warned last month that they could be targeted by Ukrainian forces. Ukraine launched at least 10 British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles into Kursk on Wednesday, according to Ukrainian and Western officials.
Western officials didn’t disclose how the senior North Korean officer was wounded or his identity.
North Korea’s mission to the United Nations didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the strike, which has been described in Western intelligence reports.
Pyongyang has sent a senior officer, Col. Gen. Kim Yong Bok, to Russia to oversee the North Korean effort to coordinate with the Russians. John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said in October that any North Korean troops who fought in Ukraine will become “fair game and fair targets” for the Ukrainians.
President Biden this month authorized Ukrainian forces to use U.S.-made ATACMS surface-to-surface missiles to strike inside Russia. The decision was intended as a response to Russia’s decision to enlist the help of North Korean troops, according to U.S. officials. The missiles were fired at targets in Bryansk region on Tuesday.
Russia President Vladimir Putin enlisted the support of North Korean troops because Russian forces have been stretched thin as they seek to grind forward in eastern Ukraine while pushing back on the Ukrainian forces in Kursk, according to military analysts.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that the number of North Korean troops who are sent to Russia could grow to as many as 100,000. He hasn’t presented concrete evidence for this forecast.
Biden administration officials have said that integrating the North Korean troops into Russian military operations could be challenging as forces from the two countries cope with language barriers and other differences.
The Storm Shadows launched Wednesday struck an estate in Marino, a town in the Russian-controlled part of the Kursk region, according to videos geolocated by the Center for Information Resilience, an online investigation organization, that were verified by The Wall Street Journal. Marino is about 20 miles from the front lines in the province.
The estate contains vast gardens and an underground area with domed ceilings lined with bricks and is run by the Russian government, according to its official website. Loud whooshes followed by thunderous explosions that set off car alarms could be heard on video taken by bystanders and shared on social media.
A Russian blogger said that several North Korean servicemen were present at a command post there.
0 comments:
Post a Comment