Russia May Have Lost 400 Troops In One Battle

Russia and North Korea may have lost around 400 troops in a single attempt to capture the village of Makhnovka in western Russia’s Kursk Oblast last week.

Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelensky relayed the news from Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the Ukrainian commander-in-chief, on Saturday. “In battles today and yesterday near just one village—Makhnovka in the Kursk region—the Russian army lost up to a battalion of infantry, including North Korean soldiers and Russian paratroopers,” Zelensky claimed. “And that’s tangible.”

Makhnovka, which lies in the no-man’s-land on the eastern edge of the 250-square-mile salient Ukrainian troops carved out of Kursk in August, has been the scene of fierce fighting for days. Videos circulating on social media depict Russian and North Korean troops marching into the village and coming under attack by Ukrainian infantry, tanks and drones.

Analyst Andrew Perpetua, who scrutinizes social media to tally Russian and Ukrainian losses, seemed to confirm the Russian casualties Zelensky referred to. “I feel like I just watched a whole Russian battalion die in a single video,” Perpetua noted on Monday. He claimed he visually confirmed 408 casualties in one day.

The four-mile stretch of the front line between Makhnovka in the north and Plekhove in the south isn’t the most intensive sector in Kursk. Clashes have been less frequent around Makhnovka than they’ve been around, say, Zelenyi Shylakh on the western side of the salient.

But it’s possible the individual fights in Makhnovka and Plekhove have been bloodier. Attacking in three waves across open fields outside the Plekhove on Dec. 14, more than 500 North Korean infantry eventually managed to eject the 100 Ukrainian troops holding the village.

But marching without much support across snowy fields, the North Koreans were easy targets for the retreating Ukrainians’ drones and artillery. North Korean losses—killed and wounded—may have accounted for more than half the attacking force, Ukrainian journalist Andriy Tsaplienko claimed.

Last weekend’s Russian attack on Makhnovka may have been even costlier—and less successful. Not only is Makhnovka still in the gray zone between Ukrainian and Russian control, there is some evidence that Ukrainian troops—possibly from the 61st Mechanized Brigade, 36th Separate Rifle Battalion or attached territorial brigades—actually advanced a short distance around the same time as many as 400 Russians lay dead or wounded on the same terrain.

The heavy casualties on the Russian and North Korean side is beginning to weigh on the two-month-old Russian-led counteroffensive in Kursk. “In Kursk Oblast, combat operations have intensified to the maximum level, forcing the Russian grouping there to expend all available resources,” the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies reported.

“This comes at an extremely inconvenient and disadvantageous time for them,” the group added. “If intensive fighting continues for another five to 10 days, the Russian grouping will need to be rapidly replenished, as it is already suffering significant losses in counter-battles. This replenishment can only be achieved by redeploying forces from other sections of the front.”