Ukraine's Dilemma in US-Russia Relations

The news of the withdrawal of North Korean troops from Kursk does not immediately bring a breath of fresh air for Ukraine. Kyiv faces a complicated dilemma amid US-Russia talks.

The news of the withdrawal of North Korean troops from Kursk, Russia, was conveyed by the spokesperson for Ukraine's special operations forces, Colonel Oleksandr Kindratenko, on Friday (31/1/2025). He had made a similar statement a week earlier. In the last three weeks, according to Kindratenko, Ukrainian forces have no longer observed the presence of North Korean troops in Kursk.

Kyiv believes that the North Korean troops have suffered significant losses after being deployed in the Kursk battlefield since October 2024 to reinforce Russia. If this news is true, does it bring a breath of fresh air for Ukraine in maintaining control over 1,376 square kilometers of the Kursk region?

As is known, Ukraine launched a swift and surprising attack in August 2024 on Kursk, taking control of part of that Russian territory. Since then, Moscow has been trying to reclaim the area that fell into Ukrainian hands.

Last October, as Ukraine, the United States and South Korea said, the Russian side was supplied with more than 11,000 North Korean troops as an implementation of the mutual defense agreement signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang in June 2024. Both agreed that if one party was attacked by a foreign power, the other party would help.

Ukraine's attack and capture of the Russian territory of Kursk became the basis for the implementation of the mutual defense pact. After almost three months, according to Ukrainian and Western military officials, the North Korean troops were withdrawn from Kursk. The Moscow Times, citing Ukrainian and US officials reported by The New York Times on Thursday (1/30/2025), said 4,000 North Korean soldiers were killed, wounded, missing or captured.

A big problem for Zelenskyy is that he is likely to be left out of the Washington-Moscow talks.

Neither Russia nor North Korea has officially acknowledged the presence of North Korean troops in the Ukraine-Russia war zone. Following a counterattack launched by Russia, Ukraine's control of Kursk was reduced to 800 square kilometers in early December 2024 (Kompas, 2/2/2025).

However, it seems that is not the main concern of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the moment. As he stated in an exclusive interview with the Associated Press on Saturday (1/2/2025), his primary focus is now on the Washington-Moscow talks to stop the Ukraine-Russia war. US President Donald Trump, after temporarily halting the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza, is also driven to end the war in Ukraine in line with his campaign promises.

A major problem for Zelenskyy is that he is likely to be left out of the Washington-Moscow talks. Trump and his predecessor Joe Biden’s views on the Ukraine-Russia war are in stark contrast. Trump acknowledged the security issue of expanding NATO membership—which Moscow said was the initial trigger for its February 2022 attack on Ukraine—that Russia raised.

Not only that, the Trump White House also considered Moscow's narrative that questioned Zelenskyy's legitimacy, because his term had ended, as president of Ukraine. Plus, his country's territory has been reduced by a fifth because it was seized by Russia, the position of Zelenskyy and Ukraine is really complicated. Not to mention the situation on the battlefield that makes it difficult for Ukraine.