“Sono meglio preparati dei russi” – Soldati ucraini sulla cattura dei prigionieri di guerra nordcoreani

This is probably because at this stage the average Russian soldier is a decrepit meathead from Ѕtаrауа ЅhіthоІevа east of the Urals who signed up within the last 6 months or so primarily because of a big signing bonus.

A big chunk of the Russians’ professional manpower as trained and worked into the forces before 2022 has been killed off or incapacitated already. The brass is understandably unwilling to draw down what’s left of any professionals who are still defending the borders in the far-flung empire.

Meanwhile what the ZSU is seeing among the NОRКѕ is a contingent of professionally-trained and relatively motivated troops who’ve been around for a while. It’s likely that if they were to suffer similarly heavy losses as the Russians already have, then the Ukrainians in the field would be reporting more and more NОRКѕ who’d be practically discount mercenaries by having been lured into the fight by big signing bonuses which weren’t needed before at all.