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.”
At least 55 people have been killed, and police have made several arrests, after a huge fire engulfed a high-rise residential complex in Hong Kong.
Authorities said nearly 300 people are also missing following the blaze at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po – a suburban district with around 300,000 residents, near the border with mainland China.
A further 45 people are in hospital in a critical condition, with around 900 people also in shelters as a result of the blaze
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Deadly blaze destroys Hong Kong tower blocks
Police have alleged its cause could have been a “grossly negligent” construction firm using unsafe materials.
Three people – two directors and an engineering consultant – have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter.
“We have reason to believe that the company’s responsible parties were grossly negligent, which led to this accident and caused the fire to spread uncontrollably, resulting in major casualties,” said police superintendent Eileen Chung. Police have not named the company.
The complex, built in the 1980s, had been under renovation for a year.
Smoke rising from the Wang Fuk Court residential complex. Pic: AP Photo/Chan Long Hei
The fire broke out on Wednesday afternoon. Pic: Reuters
Dozens of people remain in hospital, some are critically injured. Pic: AP Photo/Chan Long Hei
One firefighter was among those killed tackling the blaze, which broke out at 2.51pm local time on Wednesday.
Fire crews said they had doused the flames in all seven of the affected blocks by Thursday morning, which had been undergoing maintenance.
Records show the Wang Fuk Court site consists of eight blocks, with almost 2,000 flats housing around 4,800 residents, including many elderly people.
A relative of a resident at the scene. Pic: Reuters
Families have been identifying the bodies of relatives while others have been visiting shelters in the area, searching for missing loved ones.
Hong Kong leader John Lee said on Thursday the government will set up a HK$300m (£29m) fund to help residents.
Charred bamboo and plastic mesh covers the complex, which was undergoing renovation works. Pic: Reuters
Firefighters searching between floors at one of the high-rise blocks. Pic: Reuters
The cause of the fire is being investigated, but it appears to have started in bamboo scaffolding and construction mesh sheets and then spread across seven of the complex’s eight buildings – likely aided by windy conditions.
Bamboo scaffolding is commonly used in Hong Kong, but is in the process of being phased out because of safety concerns.
Hong Kong’s Association for the Rights of Industrial Accident Victims said there have been at least three fires involving bamboo scaffolding this year.
Temporary shelters have been set up for residents. Pic: AP
Supplies are brought to a school which is serving as a shelter. Pic: Kyodo/AP
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China’s state broadcaster CCTV said President Xi Jinping has urged an “all-out effort” to extinguish the fire and minimise casualties and losses.
Both the US and British Consulate Generals for Hong Kong have sent condolences to those affected, as has Taiwan’s president.
Parts of the huge complex were still smouldering on Thursday. Pic: AP
Firefighters work to extinguish the blaze. Pic: AP
The number of dead is already the highest in a Hong Kong fire since 1948, when 176 people were killed in a warehouse blaze.
The fire has prompted comparisons to the Grenfell Tower blaze which killed 72 people in 2017, blamed on flammable cladding, as well as failings by the government and the construction industry.
“Our hearts go out to all those affected by the horrific fire in Hong Kong,” the Grenfell United survivors’ group said on
social media.
“To the families, friends and communities, we stand with you. You are not alone.”
World
Washington DC shooting: Trump condemns ‘monstrous’ attack near White House – and says suspect is Afghan national
Donald Trump has called for every Afghan national who entered the US under the Biden administration to be investigated following the shooting of two National Guard troops near the White House.
The president said the “monstrous, ambush-style attack” was carried out by an Afghan national who arrived in September 2021 during America’s chaotic withdrawal from Kabul.
“This attack underscores the single greatest national security threat facing our nation,” Mr Trump said in an address to the nation from Florida.
He vowed to “reexamine every single alien” who has entered the US from Afghanistan under the previous government, and said: “I am determined to ensure the animal who perpetrated this atrocity will pay the steepest possible price.”
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Trump condemns ‘animal’ shooting suspect
Suspect to face terror probe
America’s citizenship and immigration office said it had stopped processing all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals indefinitely.
Sky’s US partner network, NBC News, reports the suspect in custody is 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal.
Both guardsmen were shot in the head, according to NBC, citing senior officials briefed on the investigation.
Wednesday’s shooting – carried out with a handgun – will be investigated by the FBI as a possible act of terror.
The White House was placed into lockdown following the incident, while Mr Trump is away for Thanksgiving.
Pics: AP
Victims in ‘critical condition’
West Virginia’s governor initially said both victims were members of his state’s National Guard and had died from their injuries – but later posted to say there were “conflicting reports about the condition of our two Guard members”.
Patrick Morrisey had said: “These brave West Virginians lost their lives in the service of their country.”
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Hundreds of National Guard members have been patrolling the capital after Mr Trump issued an emergency order in August, which federalised the local police force and sent in the guard from eight states and the District of Columbia.
Mr Trump has announced an extra 500 troops will be deployed in the wake of Wednesday’s shooting.
FBI director Kash Patel said the troops were “brazenly attacked in a horrendous act of violence”.
At a news conference, he clarified they were in a “critical condition”.
Pic: AP
Former president Joe Biden, who was heavily criticised by Mr Trump in his address, said he and his wife Jill were “heartbroken” by the shooting.
“Violence of any kind is unacceptable, and we must all stand united against it,” said a statement.
How the attack unfolded
Jeff Carroll, chief of the metropolitan police department in the area, said the attack began at 2.15pm local time (7.15pm in the UK) while National Guard members were on “high visibility patrols in the area”.
He said: “A suspect came around the corner, raised his arm with a firearm and discharged it at the National Guard.
“The National Guard members were… able to – after some back and forth – able to subdue the individual and bring them into custody.”
Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser called the attack a “targeted shooting”.
Pics: AP
Social media footage showed first responders attempting CPR on one of the soldiers as they treated the other on a pavement covered in glass.
Nearby other officers could be seen restraining an individual on the ground.
Emergency personnel cordon off an area near where the National Guard soldiers were shot. Pics: AP
The scene was cordoned off by police tape, while agents from the US Secret Service and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives attended the scene, as National Guard troops stood sentry nearby.
The FBI was also on the scene, the agency’s director said.
A woman has been killed by a shark and a man seriously injured at a popular beach in Australia.
Emergency services were alerted to the attack at Crowdy Bay National Park, near Port Macquarie, around 218 miles north of Sydney, at 6.30am local time on Thursday.
They were responding to reports two people had been bitten by a shark.
The pair had entered the water at Kylies Beach, a popular surfing spot, for an early morning swim.
The woman, who is believed to be in her 20s, died at the scene. She has not yet been identified.
The man, also understood to be in his 20s, was airlifted to hospital in a critical condition.
He is now said to be in a serious but stable condition, with police believing a bystander’s first aid may have prevented a double fatality.
Police Chief Inspector Timothy Bayly said: “I just really need to have a shoutout to the bystander on the beach who put a makeshift tourniquet on the male’s leg which obviously potentially saved his life and allowed New South Wales Ambulance paramedics to get to him and render first aid.”
The officer did not give any further details of the injuries or circumstances of the attack.
He said: “At this stage, all I’m prepared to say is they were known to each other and they were going for a swim and the shark attacked.”
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Shark attacks on two people are very rare, experts say. File pic: iStock
Experts said it is rare for a shark to attack more than one person.
Gavin Naylor, director of the University of Florida‘s shark research programme, said: “It is very unusual. Individual shark attacks are rare. And shark attacks on two people by the same individual is not unheard of, but it’s very rare.”
He added: “Sometimes younger sharks are less judicious and they can make mistakes. Where sharks are close to seal colonies and feeding, the probability (of attack) is higher.
“The few bites that we do have where a single shark has bitten multiple people, it’s usually tiger sharks. We’ve never seen white sharks do that unless somebody’s heroically jumping in the way.”
The beach – known for camping, fishing spots and hiking tracks – has been closed to the public as authorities work to determine the species of shark involved.
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