Kim Jong-un sends top generals and elite troops to help Putin's Russia against Ukraine

Kim Jong-Un is sending some of his best soldiers to Russia to help Vladmir Putin win the war against Ukraine. Sources told The Mirror that Ukraine feels 'abandoned' by its allies

North Korea is sending a staggering breakdown of its most elite troops, including special forces, into battle in Ukraine including 12,000 combat soldiers, 500 officers and even five senior generals.

They will be in combat in eastern Ukraine within weeks, according to fresh information from Kyiv’s intelligence organisations - beginning “combat operations” in November. The large contingent of military personnel from Pyongyang even includes special forces commanders and Kim Jong-Un’s second most elite general.

Ukraine’s military and intelligence agencies are calling for a more “robust” response to the threat by Kyiv’s allies to avoid other Russian -linked states becoming involved. Sources have told the Mirror Ukraine's military feels "abandoned" by allies, mostly the US which is "obsessed" by the forthcoming election when Kyiv's troops need urgent help in battling the fresh Russian threat.

New and alarming details of the North Korean deployment emerged in freshly released documents handed exclusively to the Daily Mirror. Training of North Korea's troops in Russia is being undergone in the Eastern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces and even includes one of Kim Jong Un’s top special forces officers.

Colonel General Kim Young Bok is Pyongyang’s deputy chief of the General staff and also a senior member of the North Korean Special Forces Operations. They are even deploying Colonel General Lee Chang Ho - second in command of the Democratic People’s Republic Of Korea’s reconnaissance forces.

It is the North Korean equivalent of the UK sending its most senior special forces officers into battle - although their untested ability is unknown. According to documents from Kyiv’s intelligence agencies the North Korean force will make up five formations of motorised rifle regiments, all disguised in Russian uniforms and holding small arms, probably standard AK47 and AK74 assault rifles.

They will, according to Kyiv intelligence, be issued with Russian identity documents. Russia will try to hide their ID by integrating the units into Moscow’s regular forces who are from ethnic minorities with similar physical appearances. A Kyiv intelligence assessment reads: "It is anticipated that by November 2024, DPRK military personnel will begin participating directly in combat operations against Ukraine’s Defense Forces.”

Ukraine believes the North Korean troops will be sent into battle in three places. They are in Donetsk, Ukraine, in Kursk, inside Russia and where Ukraine has a number of soldiers and also in areas such as Bryanks and Belgorod. The Kyiv assessment warns that a “deepening of military cooperation” between Russia and the DPRK point to a high probability of direct participation by the North Korean side in the war against Ukraine in the coming days.

“Furthermore, there are significant risks associated with the potential deployment of much larger units of the DPRK army to Russia, which could considerably augment the combat potential of the Russian Armed Forces. The absence of a robust response from the international community may embolden other potential allies of the aggressor state to deploy their own military contingents to engage in Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.”