Engineers said to be supporting missile launches and reports of North Koreans killed near Donetsk

North Korean military engineers have been deployed to help Russia target Ukraine with ballistic missiles, and North Koreans operating in occupied areas of Ukraine have already been killed, senior officials in Kyiv and Seoul said.

There are dozens of North Koreans behind Russian lines, in teams that “support launcher systems for KN-23 missiles”, a source in Ukraine told the Guardian.

Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, last year travelled to Russia for a summit with Vladimir Putin where the two men bolstered their deepening ties with a secret arms deal.

Pyongyang’s ammunition shipments were vital in allowing Russian forces to advance in a grinding war of attrition in eastern Ukraine this summer. But it appears increasingly clear that the agreement went beyond supplying materiel.

  • foggy@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    25 days ago

    Imagine being an educated Russian 45 year old conscript fighting next to malnourished north koreans.

    • TheMightyCanuck@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      25 days ago

      Are we assuming the Russian conscript has a higher degree of education than the north Korean?

      They’re both totalitarian shitholes shoving their own version of lies down their citizens throats.

      • unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        25 days ago

        They are worlds apart yes. Russia actually has an amazing academia network that is suffering greatly from Putins politics. Most recently seen by hundreds of academics having to stop their collaboration with CERN because of the war. Compared to NK, Russia is just a normal country with lots of IT and science nerds.

        However if you look at the US and their rural MAGA population, it shows that there can just be a massive rift within the population. And thats what you have in Russia too i would assume.

        • realitista@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          25 days ago

          Much of the respect we have for Russian education goes back to the excellent STEM education they had in the Soviet days. This has largely been eroded away in modern times, and much of the technology and infrastructure they have are being held together by Soviet educated older folks.

      • foggy@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        25 days ago

        There are FAR, FAR more well educated Russians than there are North Koreans, let alone Educated North Koreans.

        • realitista@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          25 days ago

          Yes but I doubt they are getting sent to Ukraine. The ethnic minority regions that Russia keeps dirt poor are sent 70:1 in some cases compared to recruits from Moscow. And I’d bet it’s a big ratio also between the well educated and poorly educated in Moscow too.

        • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          25 days ago

          There were reports of Russian soldiers in Ukraine not knowing what an “Automatic Toilet” was. They’re grabbing people from so far in the boonies, that they bring in buckets of water to flush their toilets. That also means that either Russian barracks don’t have toilets or they’re shipping their forces to the front lines without any training.

            • realitista@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              25 days ago

              He means they only know how to shit in a hole in the ground. That kind of poverty tends to not go hand in hand with the top educational institutions.

  • hotspur@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    25 days ago

    I find it interesting that the loaned DPRK are operating ballistic missile platforms. Makes me wonder if part of the intention is to skill up some of the army units with combat launching exp, which is not the happiest thought, since NK has a continental US capable truck-launched ICBM since 2017.

    Of course the plan doesn’t work if they all get killed by Ukrainian drone attacks, but NK has never been too precious about their rank and file anyway.

  • Chainweasel@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    25 days ago

    We’ve had Russians, North Koreans, and Indians fighting in Ukraine with Chinese supplied weapons against Ukrainians armed with American, Polish, German, British, and other European weapons in a war that’s been going on for nearly two years.

    Can we call it a World War yet?

    Or are we just going to refuse to use the word until nukes are dropped?

    We can also throw in the Middle Eastern theater for good measure too if that’s not enough.

    • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      25 days ago

      I’d say the situation is a lot closer to the Spanish Civil War, tbh. A lot of countries sent expeditionary forces and volunteers to assist one side or the other, including Russia and Nazi Germany (who kinda used the conflict as a proving ground for the concept of combined arms doctrine we know as “blitzkrieg”).

    • Draces@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      25 days ago

      We didn’t call the cold war a world war and that wasn’t in a single country

    • Display name@feddit.nu
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      25 days ago

      But it isn’t a world war. The only ones in conflict are Russia and Ukraine. You wouldn’t say that the US was fighting Nazi Germany when they booted up the lend-lease. The rest of the countries supplying Ukraine with arms are just doing so under international law, not as participants in the war.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      25 days ago

      Seems to me that it’s just part of the proxy war that the world powers have been fighting pretty much constantly in an Oceania/Eurasia/Eastasia kind of way since 1945.

  • McDropout@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    25 days ago

    Ukraine gets help from its allies: I sleep

    Russia gets help from its allies: 😡😡

    The cognitive dissonance of Lemmy users.

    • FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      25 days ago

      This you? Immediate block. Shame on you for supporting a mass murdering, civilian butchering, raping, children bombing, war regime.

      It’s okay to be proud of Russian culture and celebrate heritage. It’s not okay to support a war of conquests where children are stolen and civilians are slaughtered.

      • McDropout@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        25 days ago

        Someone who has a different opinion that mine! Immediately blocked!

        My echo chamber is almost… ready!! 🤗

        • Tiefling IRL@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          25 days ago

          Calling it a “different opinion” is an attempt to shut down any criticism of your disgusting lack of humanity. It’s like when Republicans call being a racist, xenophobic piece of shit a “different opinion”.

          Don’t bother replying, I’m not making this comment to try to convince you. I’m saying this to point out the tactic to anyone else who may be reading this.

          • McDropout@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            0
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            25 days ago

            You can see me criticizing Russia in the same comment thread; I believe that Russia is committing war crimes that I do not support but Ukraine is siding with states which are committing whatever Russia is committing with impunity

            there goes my support for Ukraine

            The commenter I replied to didn‘t even have a conversation with me.

            Also both republicans and democrats are racist, xenophobic, sexist, genocidal maniacs. Don‘t compare me to North Americans.

            • Doom@ttrpg.network
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              25 days ago

              That is idiotic lmfao.

              Regardless of anything. Ukraine was invaded and is the smaller state being targeted by a much bigger state in population, economy, everything. Ukraine has every right to accept any help it can get.

              But you’re gonna say you don’t support Ukraine because they’ll accept aid against a supposedly stronger opponent?

              You are fake and also a homosapien.

              • McDropout@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                0
                ·
                edit-2
                24 days ago

                Where did I write that Ukraine shouldn‘t accept the help? Putting words into my mouth?

                Also I didn‘t insult you (or anyone in this thread in fact) so throwing in digs like that is a sign of your education or lack thereof.

                • Doom@ttrpg.network
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  0
                  ·
                  24 days ago

                  Dumb dumb dumb

                  Ukraine is siding with states which are committing whatever Russia is committing with impunity

                  there goes my support for Ukraine

                  Don’t play this “I didn’t say the exact magic words so I never said it at all” game with me. Everyone reading this sees your messaging. Ukraine sided with nobody, Ukraine was attacked and is the victim.

                  Only idiots think there are two sides to an inexcusable invasion based on lies. Go put your helmet back on

      • HomerianSymphony@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        24 days ago

        Shame on you for supporting a mass murdering, civilian butchering, raping, children bombing, war regime.

        Please stick to the topic instead of bringing up Kamala Harris.