A North Korean M1989 Koksan self-propelled howitzer has allegedly appeared on the frontlines ready to be deployed against Ukraine, according to a new video.
The powerful artillery weapon, capable of firing rocket-assisted shells for up to 37 miles, was featured in a video first reported by East 2 West news on Tuesday.
The images of the howitzer along the frontlines come a little more than a month after reports first emerged that Pyongyang had shipped two M1989 Koksans to Siberia.
North Korea has deployed up to 12,000 soldiers to Russia. APIt remains unclear where the video was taken, but the bulk of North Korea’s forces in Russia have been deployed to Kursk, where Ukraine has launched a series of counterattacks against Moscow.
The North Korean M1989 was allegedly spotted on Russia’s front lines. Exilenova+/east2west news
Russia has already deployed thousands of North Korean soldiers to Kursk, with an estimated 12,000 troops deployed in Russia.
The deployment of Pyongyang’s troops and weapons to Moscow came after North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a defensive treaty over the summer pledging full military support for one another.
Despite the additional troops and weapons, Moscow has seen little success in taking back Kursk following Ukraine’s successful counter-invasion in August, with reports emerging of the Pyongyang troops’ constant blunders and ineffectiveness.
According to a BBC report, at least 49,000 Ukrainian troops had been lost. KCNA VIA KNS/AFP via Getty ImagesUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky touted the Kremlin’s latest losses in Kursk over the past five months during his Sunday address.
“During the Kursk operation, the enemy has already lost 38,000 of their soldiers in this direction alone, with nearly 15,000 of these losses being irreversible,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly address, without clarifying whether that meant the 15,000 were killed or unable to return to the front for another reason.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank, said Ukraine’s weekend assault made “tactical advances amid continued intensified offensive operations” in Kursk.
Russian forces continued limited ground operations toward the city of Kharkiv in northern Ukraine on Sunday and Monday. ZUMAPRESS.com“Ukrainian forces may be continuing to conduct long-range strikes against Russian rear areas in Kursk Oblast as part of efforts to use integrated strike capabilities to support ground operations,” the ISW said.
Moscow, however, said it successfully beat back the advancing Ukrainian troops, taking out multiple tanks and armored vehicles near the village of Berdin.
Russia also claimed Monday that its forces had successfully captured Kurakhove, a key city in the Donbas region that has seen some of the most intense battles of the war in recent months.
Ukraine has yet to confirm the status of the city, with Zelensky instead saying that the military was focused elsewhere along the frontlines, particularly in the Donetsk region.
With Post wires
