In freezing, icy conditions Russian and North Korean troops have attacked the village of Makhnovka, threatening to cut off some of Ukraine’s best-equipped fighting brigades
A shocking first-hand account from front line troops has revealed the horror of North Korean soldiers being used as ‘human land mine detectors’ in Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Kim Jong-un’s troops have been sent to bolster Russia’s numbers following almost three years of fighting and thousands of deaths on both sides. It is estimated the North Korean dictator sent 12,000 fighters. This week in freezing, icy conditions they have attacked the village of Makhnovka, threatening to cut off some of Ukraine’s best-equipped fighting brigades.
Lieutenant Colonel “Leopard” has spoken of the pressure his 33rd “Big Cats” Separate Assault Battalion has felt as the joint Russian and North Korean troops make their way forward. He explained they have been sending individual soldiers, in single file, to test the ground in case landmines have been hidden. Instead of using vehicles to clear the area they are using people, who if they are blown up, are simply replaced by another man.
The Lieutenant Colonel told the Times: “The North Koreans have a ‘meat grinder’ strategy. Where Ukrainians use a mine-clearing vehicle, they just use people. They just walk in single file, three to four metres from each other, if one is blown up, then the medics go behind to pick up the dead, the crowd continues one after another. That’s how they pass through minefields.
“Yesterday I saw four North Koreans killed in just 15 minutes, and I counted 120 killed these past two days.”
He adds that although the North Koreans are well trained and physically fit they need to be assigned Russian guides to help them navigate alien terrain and surroundings in an unfamiliar climate. His battalion had captured one of the guides but the North Koreans refused to be taken alive, preferring to fight to the death or attempting to run.
The brutal reality of war laid bare in footage from a Ukrainian soldier’s head cam showing the moment he knew he was going to die, as he admits it’s over and says goodbye to his mum, earlier this week. The distressing clip shows a deadly knife battle between the solider fighting to defend his homeland, and a Russian man fighting for Putin as his troops invade.
The pair started fighting with guns until it becomes a one on one knife fight. The Russian soldier – from the Yakutia region of Siberia – wins the bloody blade contest amid the ruins of a blitzed building. As he lies wounded the Ukrainian pleads to let him die alone and salutes his Russian foe, saying: “I want to die myself. Thank you. You were the best fighter in the world. Goodbye, you were better.” Knowing he is close to the end of his life, the unidentified defeated fighter, losing blood, sends his last message to his mother. “That’s it, mum, goodbye.”
