North Korean troops experience mass casualties on Ukraine front lines, White House says

Dec 27 (Reuters) - North Korean forces are experiencing mass casualties on the front lines of Russia's war against Ukraine, with a thousand of their troops killed or wounded in the last week alone in the Kursk region of Russia, White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Friday.

"It is clear that Russian and North Korean military leaders are treating these troops as expendable and ordering them on hopeless assaults against Ukrainian defenses," Kirby said, describing the North Korean troops' offensive as "masked, dismounted assaults."

Kirby said President Joe Biden would likely approve another security assistance package for Ukraine in coming days.

(Reporting by Gabriella Borter; Editing by Howard Goller)

((Gabriella.Borter@thomsonreuters.com;))