A senior North Korean officer has been injured in the Ukraine war for the first time, and possibly by a British-supplied Storm Shadow bunker-buster cruise missile, it is claimed.
North Korea has sent a detachment of at least 10,000 fresh troops to to assist the Kremlin in retaking territory in the Kursk Oblast captured by Ukraine in their diversionary bargaining-chip-grab counter-invasion this year, and allegedly has seen their first senior officer wounded. While having a senior officer incapacitated may be novel to the North Korean military, which has had limited combat experience beyond aiding communist insurgents across the globe for decades, it does bring it up to date with Russia which has lost a number of general officers in the conflict, and particularly in 2022.
An American intelligence report disseminated to the Wall Street Journal states a “a senior North Korean general” was wounded ‘recently’ in a Ukrainian strike in Kursk Oblast, Russia, where Moscow is presently fighting to get its own territory back from Ukraine. The sparse report did not name the officer, specify the nature of his injuries, or state when the attack happened.
Ukrainska Pravda, however, suggests the injury of the senior officer in Kursk may be related to a strike by Ukrainian forces allegedly using British-made Storm Shadow missiles targeting what was said to be a “command post” in the grounds of the significant Russian country house of the Bariatinsky estate in Maryino, Kursk. Footage published by Ukrainian forces from an observation drone shows a series of blasts striking buildings among trees close to the unmistakable outline of the historic property.
The British Storm Shadow is a modern cruise missile which uses topographical data in tandem with GPS satellites to navigate to its target while flying at low altitude to avoid countermeasures. The nose contains two explosive charges, the first to punch a hole through the outer protective layer of its target, delivering the second charge intact deep inside for detonation. The design makes it a potent bunker-buster, and has been used to apparently great effect by Ukrainian forces in Crimea, striking the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
While claims vary on how many combat troops North Korea has sent to Russia so far, a fresh intelligence update by South Korea this week puts the number at 10,900 North Koreans integrated into Russian units in Kursk. As reported, they have been placed into airborne and marine units and in some cases have already seen combat.