Summary

North Korean troops sent to Russia to support its war in Ukraine remain sidelined due to poor training and logistical issues, according to Western officials.

These soldiers are expected to relieve Russian troops in secondary positions to free up forces for frontline battles in regions like Kursk, though they are unlikely to see combat in eastern Ukraine.

The war continues to take a massive toll, with over 700,000 Russian soldiers killed or wounded since February 2022, while both sides face challenges replacing losses.

Russia’s reliance on poorly trained recruits and prison conscripts highlights its growing manpower issues.

  • Aceticon@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    They discovered Porn when they got to Russia and have been chronically exhausted ever since…

  • Rimu@piefed.social
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    7 days ago

    More poorly trained than a convict 2 weeks out of prison? Doesn’t seem possible…

    • hesusingthespiritbomb@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      There’s probably a base level of competence someone who grew up in modern society has without training that the North Koreans don’t have.

      Like even if a convict has never operated a drone, there’s probably a good amount of them that have played FPS games. That experience can be used as a launching board into proper training.

      Meanwhile the North Koreans might have absolutely zero experience with video games and smartphones, and extremely limited experience with computers in general. There’s so much you’d have to teach them before you can even start drone training.

      • pornpornporn@lemmynsfw.com
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        6 days ago

        there’s probably a good amount of them that have played FPS games. That experience can be used as a launching board into proper training.

        1- rush into the enemies

        2- get shot in the face

        3- call your squadmates a racial slur

        Yeah I don’t think online FPS strategies would work very well in a real war

        • tacosplease@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          You joke, but Call of Duty improved my laser tag abilities considerably. Not to say laser tag equals war, but some strategies and concepts carry over.

          I bet the North Koreans are struggling with things like “left click the mouse see to select what you want. Right click the mouse to bring up an options menu.” “No. Don’t point the mouse at the screen. Just move it around on top of this little pad. See the arrow moving when you do that?”

        • hesusingthespiritbomb@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          Well it’s more like

          1. Use a device that is similar to a PlayStation controller to command a drone to rush into enemies
          2. Keep that drone alive long enough for it to crash into enemy armor and explode
          3. Call your enemies a racial slur
          4. Post the entire thing to a sketchy streaming service set to techno music.

          So yeah there’s actually a non-zero amount of commonality there.

        • MintyFresh@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          Lol your 12&3 is a pretty good summary of Russian military history. The thing about Russians is there’s always more Russians.

      • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        North Korea has smartphones. Now idk if the sort of people they send to die in Ukraine have ever used one, but they do have them, and apparently they’re awful

        NK has developed an entire cybercrime network even

        • Woht24@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          Yeah but that’s like saying the US build nuclear reactors.

          You and your buddies sure don’t.

            • Woht24@lemmy.world
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              6 days ago

              I don’t think so. They’ve gone on about it a lot and supposedly could have the ability but I don’t think they’ve ever done a successful launch or detonation of a nuclear weapon.

    • BleatingZombie@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      I feel like tv and movies do more than we think for giving a base-layer of military training. I’m not saying it’s LIKE military training, but people have at least seen what they’re going to do before training

      • TotesIllegit@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        Training people can be harder when the trainees have to unlearn bad habits or knowledge. Ask anyone who has tutored previously self-taught students an artform or craft.

        In some ways, media exposure can help to introduce broad concepts, and sometimes there are excellent examples in media (My Cousin Vinny and Legally Blonde have been used in some US law school course curriculum to show how the parts of the judicial system are supposed to operate, iirc), but oftentimes preconceived notions can hinder training for the real thing.

  • Polysics@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Well yeah, when they’re just cranking the hog and eating food for the first time, what did they expect?

  • Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works
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    7 days ago

    I thought they had already been getting killed fighting in Ukraine? I haven’t followed the news too closely recently though so I’m probably wrong, just seen some headlines around the place.

    • erusuoyera@sh.itjust.works
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      7 days ago

      IIRC the NK soldiers have been fighting (and dying) in the Ukrainian occupied parts of Russia, and haven’t been deployed to the Russian occupied parts of Ukraine yet.

    • Furbag@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      I had thought so too. Apparently there have been a bunch of false reports on them being involved in fighting. Which makes sense, because their involvement in this conflict was entirely political theater to begin with - they were sent over to try and scare the western allies into backing down or else risk a wider global conflict. USA and others called their bluff and the NK soldiers have been sitting in Russia ever since. They can’t fight and they almost certainly don’t speak any Russian or have enough translators to be an effective assault force in a combat scenario.

  • scarabic@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    It would be… something if the NK troops fucked up and killed a bunch of Russians with friendly fire. The Russians would slaughter them to a man in anger. And then… 🍿

  • OmegaLemmy@discuss.online
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    7 days ago

    I want to see how the south Korean army would do against the north in a scenario where outside interference is not Allowed and nukes are banned

    • Spezi@feddit.org
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      7 days ago

      While I think that the south korean army would be superior in every way, it‘s also safe to assume that Kim send the most expendable soldiers of his army to russia.

  • werefreeatlast@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Ass an example, in the photo, if I was the flash, I could kick each one in the balls. They didn’t think that march thru! Rule #1 protect your balls. No balls? I bet the crutch still hurts if you’re a woman or asexual. Yeah, bad move NK!

  • AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space
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    7 days ago

    Also, probably malnourished. They may have gotten decent rations since they were conscripted (North Korea has a “military first” policy), but up until then they would have grown up with a calorie deficit.

    • JeremyHuntQW12@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      They’re not NK soldiers.

      NK is still at war with the south, they’re not sending any troops there, just inmates of prison camps.

    • kamenLady.@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      Exactly, if you grow up with a calorie deficit , you don’t develop the way you should have. This is not something you can revert by suddenly eating decent food.

      • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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        7 days ago

        Just because they’re 4’6" and have bones the density of plywood doesn’t mean they can’t shoot right?

        Meanwhile at the range- Holy shit his arm came right off!

        • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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          6 days ago

          My heart hurts for how tough it is for those people…

          …but this made me laugh out loud more than I care to admit lmao.

      • scarabic@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        Can you actually grow up with a calorie deficit? That term means burning more calories in the day than you take in. You can’t do that your whole life.

        • kamenLady.@lemmy.world
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          4 days ago

          I’m no expert, but i suppose there isn’t really much grow when growing up with a deficit.

          Calorie deprivation on the other hand…

          • scarabic@lemmy.world
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            4 days ago

            I guess I’m bringing my own associations to it. I’ve dieted for weight loss where deficit meant intake versus burn. But I guess there’s no reason deficit couldn’t also mean intake versus healthy required amount.