North Koreans far from being ‘cannon fodder,’ Ukrainian soldiers say – POLITICO

Ukrainian soldiers describe North Korean soldiers as far from being inexperienced cannon fodder.

“They are young, motivated, physically fit, courageous and skilled in using small arms. They are also disciplined. They have everything you need to be a good infantryman,” Chepurnyi said.

Yuriy Bondar, a Ukrainian soldier with the 80th Separate Airborne Assault Brigade, said North Korean soldiers have very good physical training and stable morale.

“The enemy does not surrender. They eliminate each other according to the same pattern, a grenade near the head, and off they go. Those who remain on the battlefield are doused with flammable liquid and burned,” Bondar said in a Facebook post on Sunday.

Bondar also confirmed that the North Koreans possess an extremely high level of small arms proficiency, having managed to shoot down “a surprising number” of Ukrainian drones.

“They demonstrate psychological resilience. Imagine, one runs and attracts attention and the other, in an ambush, shoots down a drone with targeted fire,” Bondar said, asserting that underestimating the enemy will always lead to defeat.

“As one commander said, compared to the DPRK soldiers, Wagner’s mercenaries around 2022 are just children. And I believe it,” Bondar said.