How fierce was the attack on Plekhovo village by North Korean forces?

During the Kursk campaign, North Korean forces attacked Ukrainian troops in the village of Plekhovo and won. So how did this battle take place?

In early December 2024, the 94th Brigade of the North Korean Army, in coordination with the 810th Marine Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces (RFAF), attacked Plekhovo, an important stronghold of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) in the Kursk region, and won. After the victory, the 94th Brigade immediately summarized the experience and conveyed it to company and platoon-level officers.

After the AFU made a surprise raid on Russia's Kursk region, they occupied thousands of square kilometers of Russian territory, centered on the town of Sudzha. The village of Plekhovo is located 10 kilometers south of Sudzha, close to the Russian-Ukrainian border.

At the beginning of the operation, the AFU broke through from the south and advanced towards the town of Belaya. However, the joint action of Chechen special forces and RFAF marines destroyed the AFU company-sized breakthrough, stopping the Ukrainian advance in this direction.

The RFAF then pushed the Ukrainians back in this direction, recapturing villages like Borki one by one and finally reaching the village of Plekhovo. The village of Plekhovo was "encircled" by the Psel River. Although it was a life-and-death battle, this direction of attack for the RFAF was also limited.

Moreover, before the war, Plekhovo had a population of over 600 people, it was a border village of no small size, and it was surrounded by a forest belt for protection. The AFU forces stationed here consisted of a battalion, belonging to the 80th Air Assault Brigade, and had a fire position on the other side of the river to support it. It could be said that this was a solid position.

The task of removing this “hard nail” was assigned to the 94th Brigade of the Korean People’s Army, with the 810th Marine Brigade of the RFAF as a reserve force. According to the summary of the battle of the 94th Brigade in Plekhovo, intelligence information about the deployment of Ukrainian forces in Plekhovo was provided by the Russian side.

However, Russian reconnaissance failed to obtain important details about Ukrainian fire nests, UAV launch sites, and artillery positions in Plekhovo and the surrounding area. As a result, the North Korean military believes that it has not fully grasped the enemy situation and is not fully prepared for combat.

The 94th Brigade’s battle plan was clearly influenced by old-style tactics, and the task was to completely capture the objective. But it must be said that this task was quite heavy, because fighting for a large village on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, especially one that the AFU had to firmly defend, was not an easy task. And the case of complete destruction of the objective was even less likely.

To ensure victory in their first battle (which had previously been small-scale clashes with small units), the 94th Brigade decided to mobilize all three of their infantry battalions into the battle, creating a three-fold numerical advantage over the Ukrainians.

Of course, this numerical advantage could not determine a sure victory, and the commander of the 94th Brigade also understood that a brigade attacking a battalion defending in a strong fortification could not necessarily win. The tactics that the North Korean army applied in this battle were: mobility - ambush - encirclement - surprise attack - quick victory.

Taking advantage of heavy snowfall and strong winds that made it difficult for Ukrainian UAVs to deploy, the North Korean battalions maneuvered a long distance from the secret assembly area to the attack launch location. The decision not to use motor vehicles helped the North Koreans successfully approach the attack launch location while maintaining secrecy.

Of these, the 1st Battalion of the 94th Brigade secretly moved 50 km, the 7th Battalion 41 km, and the 10th Battalion 43 km. After approaching Plekhovo, they took up positions in dense forests to cover their movement north and even west of the village of Plekhovo. In particular, the 1st Battalion used three small rubber boats (carrying 2 to 3 people) to transfer troops to the other side of the Psel River.

Thus, the 94th Brigade took full advantage of its infantry's ability to march on foot, completing its concentration north and west of the village of Plekhovo before the opening fire. Even part of the 1st Battalion crossed the Psel River, apparently intending to block Ukrainian reinforcements from the village of Guevo across the river and cut off the Ukrainian retreat from Plekhovo.

To ensure effective command, the 94th Brigade set up four relay stations near the combat area and developed a plan for uninterrupted power supply to ensure communications throughout the battle. During the 94th Brigade's combat preparations, the Ukrainian troops in Plekhovo and surrounding areas were not detected.

According to the plan drawn up by the North Korean army, after the attack began, they would quickly open the gate, capture the bridgehead, and penetrate deep into the center of the village, destroy the defending Ukrainian troops, and complete the victory in the first battle. But the attack encountered difficulties as soon as the shots were fired.

The reason was that the AFU's fortifications in Plekhovo were located not only inside the village, but also outside it; after the North Koreans launched their attack, they quickly encountered strong Ukrainian fire points.

When the North Koreans publicly proclaimed the feats of the heroes who died in the battle for the village of Plekhovo, they mentioned that some of their wounded soldiers used grenades to destroy Ukrainian machine gun firing points, which was the situation during this period.

After encountering fierce resistance from the Ukrainian army, the North Korean army immediately changed its plan, using only part of its forces to fight back against the Ukrainian army, in order to attract attention; the main force ignored the main attack direction and attacked the Ukrainian army from the flank.

Immediately, the Ukrainian army used a large number of UAVs and artillery fire from the village of Guevo to attack the North Korean formation. The commander of the 94th Brigade believed that the failure to identify and suppress the UAV launch points and artillery positions of the AFU in the direction of Guevo was the cause of the casualties and that joint counter-battery operations should be carried out with the Russian artillery.

This lesson implies that the reconnaissance activities of the Russian military before the North Korean attack were insufficient. Moreover, the RFAF was supposed to be responsible for providing fire support to the North Korean troops, but the RFAF’s artillery fire was not closely coordinated with the actions of the North Korean troops, resulting in the inability to suppress the Ukrainian artillery at Guevo, causing unnecessary casualties to the North Korean troops. (photo source: KCNA, TASS, Ukrinform).

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