"We do believe that they have suffered some significant losses, killed and wounded, but it's difficult for me to put an actual number on it. I would say, certainly in the realm of dozens, several dozens," said the White House's national security adviser John Kirby on Monday.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller also confirmed during a press briefing the same day, "We have seen North Korean soldiers who have been killed in action on the battlefield inside Russia."
Their remarks came after Pentagon Press Secretary Pat Ryder said earlier in the day, "North Korean soldiers have engaged in combat in Kursk with Russians, alongside Russian forces. We do have indications that they have suffered casualties - both killed and wounded," describing them as "legitimate military targets for the Ukrainians, given that they are engaged in active combat ops."
Ryder said, "We do know that they have been integrated into Russian units in many cases and we are aware of reports of [North Korean] soldiers being killed as a result of Ukrainian strikes against Russian facilities."
But he added, "Largely speaking, so far, we've not seen [North Korean soldiers] engaging in offensive combat operations, although we do expect at a certain point in time that that will very likely happen."
North Korea reportedly has sent over 10,000 troops to Russia to support its war in Ukraine, with most of them deployed in Kursk, a Russian territory currently occupied by Ukraine.
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