North Korea tunnelling troops suspected of helping Russia open new Ukraine front

North Korea is believed to be sending thousands of tunnelling troops to help Russia open a new ‘underground front’ on the Ukraine border.

Military engineers are being sent by Kim Jong Un ostensibly to help Russia with “restoration work” in the Donbas - but Kyiv suspects that they are being sent for a military ulterior purpose. With Russia having previously used tunnels in the conflict, fears are growing that North Korean engineers are being employed to gain advantage in the ongoing conflict.

According to United Ukraine analyst Aleksey Kushch, Russia has used tunnels in the conflict twice, in Avdiivka and Toretsk, in an attempt to make major breakthroughs on the frontline. Kushch has now warned that Putin is bidding to break the “deadlock” in the war by digging tunnels throughout summer and autumn.

Russian tunnelling

‌“Judging by various sources, approximately five engineering brigades of the North Korean army may arrive in Donbas,” Kushch said. This could mean more than 15,000 men are arriving in Donbas - although the exact figure is as yet unclear.

Kushch says any suggestion that they are doing “restoration” work is simply “illogical”, particularly while the war is in “full swing”. He added: “The Russian breakthrough near Avdiivka and Toretsk occurred, among other things, as a result of the use of underground tunnels.”

Aleksey Kushch

A tunnel already existed for the Russians to use in Avdiivka, but in Toretsk a tunnel nearly two-miles long was dug, according to journalist Will Stewart. It is being employed as “a new technology of war…to protect against attacks from drones and artillery - undermining, going to the rear, seizing positions, digging in”.

Kushch added: “Who can dig better than the Koreans?”. He explained that Pyongyang has “developed its own theory of underground warfare” which stem from its experiences in the Korean war.

“Underground tactics can be used for a ‘creeping offensive’ and breaking through complex, layered defences, and to minimise losses from drone and artillery strikes” in eastern Ukraine, Kushch said. ‌“I would not be surprised if the 'underground war’ strategy was approved during Putin’s visit to the DPRK. Perhaps it was suggested by the North Koreans themselves.”

Russia

Ukraine will need to prepare “technically” for these risks, after Russians successfully used tunnels earlier in the war. Troops were led on all fours down a one and quarter mile pipe which had been cleared by the Russians over the previous month. This allowed them to get behind Ukrainian positions in Avdiivka in one of the war’s bloodiest battles.

‌A Russian account of this operation said: “When everything was ready, over 100 of our attack soldiers made their way through the pipe to the rear of the Ukrainian key position called Tsar’s Hunt [formerly a hotel and recreation complex]. Most of the defending Ukrainian Armed Forces were destroyed, and about a dozen were captured.”

Ukrainians were forced to retreat from the area, before commander behind the operation Anton 'Zima' Morozov, 28, was recommended for the Kremlin’s highest honour: Hero of Russia. He was assassinated after being shot 11 times in a Ukrainian operation before he could receive it.