Over 200 wounded North Korean soldiers were reportedly brought to a Russian hospital near Moscow within a few days, according to an intercepted conversation released by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) via Telegram.
“Ukrainian Defense Forces inflict serious losses on Russian and North Korean units in the Kursk region,” the report said.
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In the intercepted conversation, a nurse from a hospital in the Moscow region speaks with a man presumed to be her husband, a Russian soldier fighting in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region.
“They’ve brought the Koreans to our hospital... Yesterday there was another train with about 100, and today another 120. That’s already 200,” she says. “And how many more of them are there (at the front)? God only knows.”
The nurse describes how hospital wards are being cleared specifically for the DPRK militants, leaving wounded Russian soldiers in poorer conditions. “They’re elite, these Koreans, or what? We free up certain wards for them. They’re so privileged or something?”
She adds that if North Korean fighters ask her for anesthetic injections, she plans to refuse. “‘Go to hell,’ I’ll tell them. ‘I don’t understand what you’re saying,’” the nurse says over the phone, adding that communication with the DPRK troops is nearly impossible.
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According to the nurse, communication issues arise because the DPRK soldiers do not know Russian:
“F**k, they all look the same. How are we supposed to tell them apart? We might as well write on their foreheads with a marker,” she told her interlocuter. “What a zoo! Soon, there’ll be no one left to talk to. They’ll just mumble something in their gibberish. It’s crazy!”
The nurse also mentions that hospital staff have been forbidden from speaking English with the North Korean troops. “We’re not allowed to talk to them in English. It’s forbidden for them to speak English. Because they’re North Koreans, they’re with us. The South Koreans, though, they’re with America.”
The SBU has opened a criminal case investigating the participation of North Korean soldiers in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Ukrainian forces have inflicted heavy casualties on North Korean troops fighting alongside Russia, with “several hundred” killed or wounded, according to a senior US official cited by The New York Times (NYT).
The DPRK soldiers, described as lacking combat experience, have been vulnerable to Ukrainian strikes on command centers and infantry positions.
Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate (HUR), reported that large-scale assaults by North Korean troops in the Kursk region began last week, resulting in over 200 deaths. Reinforcements from the 94th Separate Brigade of the North Korean Army were sent to sustain operations after significant losses, as per the HUR’s report on Telegram.
Drone footage from Ukraine’s 414th Separate Regiment showed over two dozen North Korean casualties, while Special Operations Forces (SSO) in a Telegram report confirmed 50 killed and 47 wounded within three days, along with the destruction of vehicles and armored equipment.
President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged Russia’s deployment of “significant numbers” of DPRK soldiers in combined units, while Junior Sergeant Stanislav Bunyatov described them as disciplined but prone to morale collapse under heavy losses.
Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder confirmed the first combat involvement of North Korean troops alongside Russian forces on Monday, Dec. 16.
Last year, Kyiv Post interviewed Maria [surname withheld], who works for Ukrainian intelligence as a professional eavesdropper. She talked about some of the shocking things she heard.
Russia regularly dismisses the content of intercepted calls published by Ukraine, saying they are fake, a claim Maria denied.
She said: “Yes, they all are real even though they might seem insane. Sometimes I can’t believe the words I’m hearing myself, but we have what we have.”
Kyiv Post has previously reposted intercepted conversations that may violate Kremlin operational security and reveal the morale of Russian soldiers, their families, and ordinary citizens. Examples of the things Ukrainian eavesdroppers have heard can be found here:
Russian Soldier Complains of Using Civilian Trucks to Transport North Koreans
‘The Chinese Are Here’ – Russian Troops React to North Korean Arrival
‘I Need to Get the Hell Out of Here’ – Russian Soldier Fears for His Life
‘I’d Rather Be Dead’ – Russian Soldier Says Commanders Flee and Own Snipers Kill Them
‘We Bury Them Right There’ – Russian on Moscow’s Tactic to Avoid Paying for Fallen Soldiers
‘Kyiv Never Bombed and Russians Are Dying’ – Russian Wife Complains About Kremlin
‘Half a Battalion Escaped to The Forest’ – Russian Soldier Blamed for Mass Refusal to Fight
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