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.”
World
Why Putin has suddenly offered an ‘Easter truce’ in Ukraine – and the interesting way it’s being presented
Well it is something, but it’s by no means everything – a ceasefire for 30 hours, not 30 days.
This feels like a diplomatic dance, rather than a military, or moral, manoeuvre.
An Easter truce – announced by Vladimir Putin on Saturday – is significant in the sense that, if it holds, it’ll be the first actual cessation of hostilities since the war began.
Ukraine war latest: Follow live updates
And it’s significant in the sense that it’s the first actual concession made by Moscow since Donald Trump initiated peace negotiations two months ago.
But – and there’s always a “but” when it comes to the Kremlin – how much of a concession is it really? And how much difference will it make militarily?
It’s nowhere near what the White House has been asking for, and it’s nowhere near what Ukraine has previously consented to.
The American president’s first proposal was a full 30-day ceasefire. Kyiv agreed but Moscow didn’t, not without conditions.
Then there was the attempted maritime truce. Again, Moscow’s agreement came with strings attached, in the form of sanctions relief, so it never got off the ground.
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Ukraine: Michael Clarke Q&A
So why suddenly suggest a truce now?
America had made no secret of its growing frustration at the lack of progress in peace negotiations.
Trump threatened to “take a pass” on attempts to reach an agreement on Friday after his secretary of state said the US might “walk away”.
I don’t think that in itself would be a problem for Russia, given its military dominance. But I think it could be a problem if Trump blames Putin for the lack of progress, and then pulls the plug on their thaw in relations as well.
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Trump blames Zelenskyy for war
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So this feels like Putin is giving Trump just enough to keep him on side, without actually making any major concession.
And the way it’s being presented is interesting too – at Russia’s initiative, on humanitarian grounds, Ukraine must “follow our example”.
He’s trying to cast himself as the peacemaker in the eyes of the US president – as the one who give solutions, not problems – which appears contrary to Trump’s opinion of Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Israeli strikes in Gaza have killed more than 90 people in the past 48 hours, the Hamas-run health ministry in the territory has said.
Women and children were among 15 people who were killed overnight on Friday in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to hospital staff.
At least 11 of those who were killed were sheltering in a tent in the designated humanitarian zone of al Mawasi, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are living, the hospital workers said.
A further four people were killed in separate strikes on the city of Rafah, including a mother and her daughter, according to Gaza’s European Hospital, where the bodies were taken.
Mourners at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis. Pic: Reuters
Israel – which has not commented publicly on the latest strikes – has vowed to intensify attacks across Gaza and occupy large “security zones” inside the area.
It says this is to put pressure on Hamas to release more hostages and ultimately agree to disarm and leave the territory.
For weeks, Israeli troops have also blockaded Gaza, barring the entry of food and other goods.
Last month, 15 aid workers were killed and buried in a shallow grave after being fired upon by Israeli troops.
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Sky reveals timeline of IDF’s Gaza aid attack
Hamas is currently holding 59 hostages, 24 of whom are believed to be alive.
The group says it will only return them in exchange for the release of more Palestinian prisoners, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a lasting truce, as called for in the now-defunct ceasefire agreement reached earlier this year.
Hamas’s armed wing said the fate of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander was unknown after a guard who was holding him was found killed.
On Tuesday, Hamas said it had lost contact with a group of militants holding Mr Alexander in Gaza.
Earlier this week, the United Nations warned that almost all of Gaza’s population of more than two million people is relying on the one million prepared meals produced daily by charity kitchens.
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People at a hospital in Khan Younis mourn the deaths of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes earlier this week. Pic: Reuters
Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house. Pic: Reuters
The only other way to get food in Gaza is from markets, but rising prices make them unaffordable for most, according to the World Food Programme. The UN humanitarian office, known as OCHA, called it Gaza’s “worst humanitarian crisis” since the escalation of hostilities in October 2023.
Dr Hanan Balkhy, head of the World Health Organisation’s eastern Mediterranean office, urged the new US ambassador in Israel, Mike Huckabee, to push Israel to lift Gaza’s blockade so medicines and other aid can enter the strip.
“I would wish for him to go in and see the situation first hand,” she said on Friday.
US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee places a handwritten note in Jerusalem. Pic: Reuters
In his first appearance as ambassador, Mr Huckabee visited the Western Wall, the holiest Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem’s Old City. He inserted a prayer into the wall, which he said was handwritten by US President Donald Trump.
Mr Huckabee said every effort was being made to bring home the remaining Israeli hostages.
Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and abducting 251.
Israel’s offensive has since killed more than 51,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Two Britons killed in a cable car crash near Naples have been named by Italian media.
Graeme Derek Winn, 65, and his wife Margaret Elaine Winn, 58, were among four people – including an Israeli woman and an Italian man, the cable car operator – who died in the incident on Thursday, which officials said happened after the cable snapped.
The only survivor, a second Israeli tourist, was in a stable but critical condition, the Naples hospital treating him said on Friday.
Ms Winn was initially named by Italian media as Margaret Elaine Winn, but it is understood she was known as Elaine.
Graeme Derek Winn and his wife Margaret Elaine Winn. Pic: Facebook
The couple were described as “good friends” by Chris Mann, who posted on social media saying they were “enjoying retirement with lots of motorbike tours and holidays”.
“How incredibly sad,” he wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday.
A Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) spokesperson said: “We are supporting the families of a British couple who have died in Italy and are in touch with the local authorities.”
Nine passengers were helped out of a separate cable car that was stuck mid-air near the foot of the mountain following the incident.
They were freed one by one in a difficult operation using harnesses, footage on RAI television and other media showed.
Officials said a cable snapped, causing the crash, south of Naples, Italy. Pic: CNSAS
Rescuers and emergency services at the scene. Pic: AP
Italy’s alpine rescue, along with firefighters, police and civil protection services, responded to the incident.
It occurred just a week after the cable car, popular for its views of Mount Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples, reopened for the season. It averages around 110,000 visitors each year.
People being rescued from a second cable car that became stuck after the incident
Umberto De Gregorio, chairman of the EAV public transport company that runs the Mount Faito cable car, described the incident as “a tragedy” and said the service would remain shut “for a long time” following the crash.
He told Sky News the cause of the incident was being investigated, and that before its reopening, the cable car service had undergone three months of tests with checks carried out every morning.
“Everything we had to do was done,” he said.
“Evidently something went wrong, we don’t know what, whether an exceptional unforeseen event or human error. The investigators will discover all this.”
He added: “Furthermore, I knew very well one of the four victims, our employee. He is the brother of my driver – who is also my friend, since we lived together practically every day.
“I knew him and yesterday I saw his heartbroken wife, we hugged each other. There is so much emotion.”
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The UK Foreign Office said: “We are dealing with an incident in Italy and are in contact with the local authorities. Our thoughts are with those affected.”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her condolences for the victims and their families and said she was in touch with rescuers. She spoke from Washington, where she was meeting US President Donald Trump.
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