North Koreans ‘blow themselves up with grenades rather than risk capture’, say Ukraine soldiers
North Korean troops appear to have temporarily pulled back from the frontline in Russia after suffering heavy losses, a Ukrainian special forces commander has told Sky News.
The commander, who goes by the codename “Puls”, said Kim Jong Un‘s men were likely either learning lessons from mistakes made during their first, bloody clashes with Ukrainian soldiers, tending to their wounded or waiting for reinforcements.
“I think they’ll be back soon,” he said, speaking at a secret base in northeastern Ukraine.
A Ukrainian soldier takes forensic samples from the body of a North Korean on the battlefield
Interviews with several Ukrainian troops reveal remarkable details about how the North Koreans have been fighting since they arrived on the battlefield in the Russian region of Kursk last month. This includes:
• An apparent initial lack of awareness about the threats from drones and artillery, with North Korean soldiers attacking on foot “like something out of World War Two” in groups of 20, 40 or even 60 men, making themselves easy targets
• “Brainwashing” which means they keep pushing forward despite being under Ukrainian fire and with comrades being killed and wounded around them
• A desire to remove evidence of their presence from the warzone, with North Koreans in white helmets spotted trying to recover the wounded and the dead
• A refusal to be taken alive, with claims that North Koreans have been seen blowing themselves up with grenades rather than risk capture. Puls even claimed a North Korean has been heard shouting “For General Kim Jong Un” before killing himself
• Poor coordination between North Korean and Russian forces because of the language barrier. One soldier claimed radio intercepts revealed North Koreans accidentally targeted Russian positions. He also said they would storm Ukrainian positions, suffering losses, but Russian troops would then fail to exploit the gains
• Better kit than many Russians, including rifles and uniform, but a lack of heavy armour, with North Koreans only moving on foot and using golf buggies to transport ammunition.
“They were all clean-shaven and perfectly groomed, like models,” said Puls.
“Every single one – no beards, unkempt hair, or bald heads… It was also hard to determine their age. They all looked between 25 and 35, maybe up to 40.”
Ukrainian special forces during the operation
North Korean troop deployment not officially confirmed
Ukraine and its Western allies say Pyongyang has sent 11,000 troops to join Russia’s war, focusing on bolstering infantry lines in the Kursk region where Ukrainian troops captured swathes of territory in a daring invasion last August.
Neither Kim Jong-Un nor Vladimir Putin have officially confirmed the deployment.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed last week that some 4,000 North Korean soldiers have already been killed or injured.
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A Ukrainian commander, who goes by the codename ‘Puls’
Puls commands the 1st Combat Divers Battalion of Special Operations Forces.
His elite commandos were tasked with capturing DNA samples and documents from a unit of about 25 North Korean soldiers who were killed in a drone and artillery barrage about a fortnight ago inside Kursk.
Body camera footage from the mission has been shared with Sky News. Edited clips have also been posted on social media.
Samples of saliva and hair are taken from dead North Koreans
Forensic samples taken
Ukrainian soldiers can be seen carefully sticking cottonwool buds into the mouths of dead North Korean troops to take samples of saliva and place them in an evidence bag.
They then remove the troops’ helmets, cutting clumps of hair and bagging them as well.
In addition, body armour is cut away so the Ukrainians can more easily access the documents and other items on each soldier, including military identity cards, dog tags, handwritten notes and photographs.
There was also evidence of loved ones back home
‘North Koreans only had ammo and chocolate’
One of Puls’s men, who took part in the operation and goes by the codename “Trainer”, said he was surprised that the North Koreans only had ammunition and chocolate as supplies to sustain them in the fight.
“Not a single soldier had a water bottle,” he said.
“They rely on the idea that they will storm through, take positions, and then eat and survive off our supplies.”
Asked what personal belongings he found, Trainer said: “There were letters. Of course, there were notebooks, notes. There were hand-drawn maps… There were photos of children, mothers, letters they tried to send home.”
Military identity cards were Russian, suggesting a bid to hide the true ethnicity of the troops
The military identity cards were Russian – a seemingly clumsy attempt to hide the true ethnicity of the soldiers.
Trainer said some of the notes appeared to be of soldiers’ experiences in battle. He said it seemed as though they were trying to learn from their exposure to modern warfare.
“It’s the experience they are accumulating for their country, for conflicts they might face in the future,” he said.
North Koreans ‘more disciplined’
Puls described how the North Koreans fought differently from the Russians.
“They are far more disciplined, with exceptional morale and determination – completely brainwashed, really,” he said.
Puls said about a fortnight ago he noticed the North Koreans pulling back.
“The Russians are standing, working everywhere along the frontline, but no Koreans,” he said.
“Either they’re analysing their mistakes, or tending to their wounds, or maybe they’re waiting for reinforcements. There’s talk that Kim Jong-Un is sending more North Koreans here. That’s the situation.”
He said intercepted Russian communications appeared to indicate they would be returning.
“They’re still present, training or waiting for reinforcements. Something is happening, they’ll be back soon.”
Elon Musk could be on track for a $1trn pay packet.
Tesla shareholders have approved the whopping financial package for the CEO – who’s already worth an estimated $491bn – if he hits a series of ambitious targets over the next 10 years.
But that $1trn figure (or £761,910,000,000) – which is both one thousand billion and one million million – is almost impossible to imagine for most people.
Even so, we have drilled down into the numbers and examined what you can do with a trillion US dollars – and it turns out, quite a lot.
Show me the money
Laid end to end, a trillion one-dollar bills would cover a distance of approximately 156 billion metres.
That could wrap around the equator 3,890 times, easily reach the sun from Earth (around 149.6 million km) or loop from Earth to the moon 405 times.
That many one-dollar notes could cover a massive area (roughly 10,339 km squared), meaning you could blanket nearly all of Lebanon or Jamaica in bills.
Spend it on sport
You could splash out on virtually all of the world’s major sporting leagues.
The clubs which make up the Premier League are relatively cheap ($30bn), and even when snapping up the UEFA Champions League clubs and the big five top divisions of Spain, Italy, Germany, and France, there’s still $858bn left in the kitty.
The four major US sports leagues for ice hockey, baseball, basketball, and American football (NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL) have a rough valuation of $544bn, according to Sportico.
But then add the IPL cricket league ($120bn) and F1 ($23.1bn) and Musk still has change from an estimated total spend of $829.7bn.
Elon Musk is in the money if he hits targets set by Tesla’s shareholders. File pic: AP
Take over Tesla’s rivals
He could buy up the top 15 largest publicly traded automakers (excluding Tesla) by market capitalisation.
They would include firms like Japan’s Toyota ($275bn), Chinese automaker BYD ($120bn), and luxury brands like Ferrari ($81bn) and Mercedes-Benz ($62bn), as well as BMW ($52bn), Volkswagen ($50bn) and Ford ($48bn).
But there would still be a little change left over; the total bill would be an eye-watering $992bn.
Buy up San Diego
He could buy up every single residential property in San Diego County – valued at a total of $1trn. Seattle is just slightly out of reach at $1.1trn, according to recent data from real estate firm Zillow.
But if he wanted to buy big – there is always Tennessee. The total value of homes in the US state is estimated at $957bn. Or there is Maryland, which at $1.01trn could be bought if he can find a little more cash behind the sofa.
Sadly, he would struggle to scoop up London’s entire housing stock, which in February was valued at just under £2trn ($2.53trn), according to agents Savills.
Cities like New York ($4.6trn) and Los Angeles ($3.9trn) are also not within his budget, hosting America’s most expensive residential markets.
Do something charitable?
There is always the possibility Musk could follow in the footsteps of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who intends to give away 99% of his vast fortune over the next 20 years.
He could give every single man, woman, and child in the US a share of his cash pile. They would receive approximately $2,917.32 (£2,223.29), based on a population estimate of 342.7 million.
Although it would be roughly $14,348.79 (£10,935.20) for every person (roughly 69.6 million) in the UK.
If he wanted to give the entire globe an early Christmas present, then based on the rough world population estimate of 8.2 billion, everyone would receive $121.80 (£92.87).
Pay off the credit card
With $1trn, he could instantly rewrite history and erase debt interest payments and the government debt from dozens of the world’s sovereign nations.
Or Musk could wipe out the debts of Singapore ($1trn) or South Korea ($0.99trn) in one go, according to figures from the International Monetary Fund’s latest World Economic Outlook (Oct 2025).
But when it comes to the biggest debt-laden countries, $1trn would not even touch the sides.
The US has $38.3trn of government debt (just over one third of the total global debt pile) while the UK has a modest $4.1trn.
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