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Zelenskyy: Russia Loses Entire North Korean Battalion in Kursk Within 48 Hours (united24media.com)

submitted 2 days ago by Hubi@feddit.org to c/ukraine@sopuli.xyz

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[-] normanwall@lemmy.world 58 points 2 days ago

For anyone who also doesn't know what a battalion is, Wikipedia says

"A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers.[1] Commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several companies, each typically commanded by a major or a captain. The typical battalion is built from three operational companies, one weapons company and one headquarters company. In some countries, battalions are exclusively infantry, while in others battalions are unit-level organizations."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battalion

[-] HK65@sopuli.xyz 37 points 2 days ago

Soviet-style battalions are half that size though. They usually get augmented with more hardware and are then used as independent units, in what the Russians call a Battalion Tactical Group.

If they lost a battalion, that's 500-600 people, if they lost the whole BTG, it's 700-800.

[-] atro_city@fedia.io 16 points 2 days ago

Losing that many people in 2 days is impressive though. What a meatgrinder.

[-] HK65@sopuli.xyz 10 points 2 days ago

It's a good question what "loss" means here. A total disorganized rout is also a total loss, even though some men might be recoverable and still in fighting shape. The hardware is cooked though. And actually, a rout usually means the Ukrainians get to capture it, so there's your new tank.

And I wouldn't want to be the guy trying to find where hundreds of North Koreans ended up near Kursk, with them not speaking any language anyone would understand and not knowing the area.

The Kursk front has some of the biggest single hits the Ukrainians have delivered to Russian manpower though. Remember the troop convoys where artillery hits were killing dozens to hundreds of soldiers all at once since the freshly mobilized troops didn't know where to go and were just sitting densely packed in trucks on the road?

[-] bradorsomething@ttrpg.network 1 points 2 days ago

That’s a big point… when you degrade a battalion, you degrade (generally) the line troops. There are support troops, admin, logistics, etc associated that are not generally killed. A truck strike like those vehicles gets everyone.

[-] BedSharkPal@lemmy.ca 42 points 2 days ago

Do North Koreans even know about cell phones and drones?

It seems to me like they've just been pulled into some nightmare dystopian future where mechanical birds are blowing up their comrades.

[-] Kushan@lemmy.world 19 points 2 days ago

Wasn't there a report recently talking about the north Koreans binging on porn because the internet isn't as restrictive?

I'd assumed they were using personal electronics for that.

[-] Hubi@feddit.org 11 points 2 days ago

I've seen some videos and diaries from North Koreans talking about FPV drone attacks but I'm pretty sure they only get a very basic crash course at most before they arrive at the front. Hell, even the Russians themselves don't have any solid strategies to deal with them aside from unreliable electronic warfare systems.

[-] Doom@ttrpg.network 7 points 2 days ago

No they know machines exist. They probably just didn't expect strategies to be so different

[-] solsangraal@lemmy.zip 37 points 2 days ago

every single one of them probably just teenagers yoinked from their homes because they're the only ones who can walk without a limp and/or bent back like everyone else in the village over 25

[-] HaleHirsute@infosec.pub 14 points 2 days ago

Yeah, they surely don’t even understand what country they’re in or why.

[-] Quexotic@infosec.pub 9 points 2 days ago

They just know if they're captured alive, their families die.

[-] HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com 2 points 2 days ago

and since they don't know if they died or are captured there is really only one thing that happens.

[-] Quexotic@infosec.pub 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I'd like to think that now that Ukraine knows this, they will be quiet about North Korean prisoners. It's the right choice ethically, but I think there's probably also stragic gain to be had.

Also, North Korea is dumb, but they're not plumb dumb. If they kill enough soldiers' families, they'll have morale issues. They're smart enough to "make a few examples" just to keep em terrified. Evil enough too. The whole situation sickens me. Like, I wasn't a fan of them before but this is a whole new level of evil.

Sacrificing thousands of human lives just to get military tech.

NK needs to be conquered and liberated.

[-] Chuymatt@beehaw.org 4 points 2 days ago

At this point, no country nearby wants that to happen. The number of refugees would be insurmountable, and the skills that they have are completely un generalizable.