Ukraine destroys North Korean ‘wonder weapon' for first time in war with Russia

Independent

20-02-2025

Ukrainian forces have destroyed a North Korean 'wonder weapon' for the first time, Kyiv 's military said.
The Nemesis 412th Regiment said that one of their drones had hit a North Korean M-1978 Koksan howitzer that had been shipped to Russia top help with Putin's war.
"In Luhansk region, fighters of the 412th separate regiment of Nemesis drones struck a very rare M-1978 North Korean self-propelled artillery vehicle with a gun caliber of 170mm," the statement posted on Telegram said.
The post was accompanied by a video that showed the military target being blown up. The regiment said that the first time the Koksan self-propelled gun was seen in Russian service was in October 2024.
'We are accepting another wunderwaffe of the enemy military-industrial complex into the collection of Nemesis achievements,' using the German term for 'wonder weapon.'
They explained the firing range of the gun with a high-explosive fragmentation shell could reach 43km. It is manned by eight people with a rate of fire of two shots in five minutes. However, while the Nemesis unit identified the weapon as an M-1978 some experts have claimed it looked more like an M-1989 Koksan.
Up to 12,000 North Korean troops have been deployed in southern Russia's Kursk region alongside Russian forces, in an attempt to eject Ukrainian forces who hold a 250 square-mile chunk of territory more than six months after launching a cross-border attack.
Just last week, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia could send up to 3,000 more North Korean troops to the Kursk region.
He said at the Munich Security Conference: 'This is from what we see, we don't know for sure. We see when they are already there, and then we can make a rough estimate. So far, we see a couple of thousand that they are asking for in addition.'
North Korean security agents continue to monitor and control their country's troops in Kursk. According to an interview with two North Korean prisoners of war captured in Ukraine, they have been told the South Korean military is flying the drones attacking them.
South Korea's defence ministry told a parliament committee last week that North Korean military aid to Russia included approximately 200 long-range artillery pieces and a significant amount of ammunition.
They said on Wednesday that Seoul would provide the necessary protection and support in accordance with the basic principle of accepting all North Korean prisoners of war captured by Ukraine if they request to go to South Korea, a position they already conveyed to Ukraine.
The latest developments in the Kursk region comes as senior officials from both Russia and the United States met in Riyadh to begin peace talks to put an end to the war with Ukraine.
Zelensky, who was not invited to the talks on Ukraine's future has said that any deal made without the consent of his administration won't be accepted.