Intelligence sources say a battalion of 3,000 has been secretly training to fight against Ukraine

A battalion of 3,000 North Korean soldiers will shortly join Russian troops in fighting Ukraine, marking Pyongyang’s full entry into the war.

Intelligence sources said the unit has been secretly training in Russia’s Far East ahead of deployment as part of a Russian airborne regiment.

“They are called the Buryat Battalion,” a senior Ukrainian military source told Politico. Buryatia is a remote region of Russia bordering Mongolia that the Kremlin has targeted heavily for military recruitment.

The Kyiv Independent quoted another Western intelligence source claiming that North Korea had sent 10,000 soldiers to join the Russian army.

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  • Mubelotix@jlai.luEnglish
    224·
    2 months ago

    Because someone’s watching you with a gun to your head. Deserting is hard

      • Maalus@lemmy.worldEnglish
        83·
        2 months ago

        So your idea is to heroically kill a blocking batallion by yourself by turning around. So now there are Ukrainians wanting to kill you in the rear, and Russians wanting to kill you in the front. Said Russians also have a firepower advantage over you in the form of artillery that they can throw at deserters too. They have air support, reserves and military police that can quash any deserters.

        Unless half the army walks with you, you having a gun doesn’t mean shit.

        • Cethin@lemmy.zipEnglish
          91·
          2 months ago

          No, the grunts should just kill their officers and surrender to Ukraine ideally. They could go back towards Russia if they wanted to take that risk, because it’s not an impenetrable wall like you’re implying. It’s still a risk though. Probably better odds than fighting though if they don’t agree with the war.

          • Randomgal@lemmy.caEnglish
            310·
            2 months ago

            This is very naive. Deserting cucks you over. If the world followed your logic we’d have world peace 500 years ago.

            • Lightor@lemmy.worldEnglish
              91·
              2 months ago

              It’s not naive. I’ve served in the military. You don’t constantly have a massive army behind you telling you to push forward. You’re sent out in squads. Patriotism and brotherhood is how this has always been overcome, because war is scary and hard. I don’t see the people of NK feeling much of either if they aren’t taken care of and are finding out how much they were lied to.

            • Cethin@lemmy.zipEnglish
              51·
              2 months ago

              It isn’t naive, there’s just a lot of reasons why it isn’t done. Most people have families back home, for example, and they’ll face consequences if you do this. It does happen though. It’s rare, but it’s possible.

            • skulblaka@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              3·
              2 months ago

              In any other situation I would agree with you, but are you confident that deserting the Russian army fucks you over more than living in North Korea does? Because I’m not really sure.