Ukrainian troops have engaged with North Korean units for the first time in Russia, an official says

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian troops have engaged for the first time with North Korean units that were recently deployed to help Russia in the war with its neighbor, Ukraine’s defense minister said on Tuesday.

Another official in Kyiv said Ukraine’s army fired artillery at North Korean soldiers Russia’s border region of Kursk.

The comments were the first official reports that Ukrainian and North Korean forces have engaged in combat after a deployment that gave the war a new complexion as it nears its 1,000-day milestone.

None of the claims could be independently verified.

The Ukrainian and North Korean troops were engaged in “small-scale” fighting that marked the start of Pyongyang’s direct involvement in Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov told South Korea’s public broadcaster KBS in an interview.

North Korean soldiers are mixed with Russian troops and are misidentified on their uniforms, Umerov was quoted as saying by KBS. That makes it hard to say if there were any North Korean casualties, he said.

Umerov reportedly said he expects five North Korean units, each consisting of about 3,000 soldiers, to be deployed to the Kursk area.

Meanwhile, Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the anti-disinformation branch of Ukraine’s Security Council, said “the first North Korean troops have already been fired upon in the Kursk region.”

He gave no further details.

Western governments had expected the North Korean soldiers to be sent to Russia’s Kursk border region, where a three-month-old incursion by the Ukrainian army is the first occupation of Russian territory since World War II and has troubled the Kremlin.

US, South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence estimates say up to 12,000 North Korean combat troops are being sent by Pyongyang to the war under a pact with Moscow.

The Pentagon said Monday that at least 10,000 North Korean soldiers were in Russia near the Ukrainian border.

More troops from North Korea’s 1.3 million-strong army may be slated for deployment in Russia, according to an analysis published Tuesday by the European Council on Foreign Relations, an international think tank.

The consequences extend far beyond Europe, it says.

“Despite integration challenges – including communication barriers and differing military doctrines – the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia represents a significant shift in European and Asian security relations,” the analysis said. “For the first time in generations, troops from East Asia are actively involved in a European conflict.”

The North Korean troops, whose combat quality and combat experience are unknown, contribute to Ukraine’s worsening situation on the battlefield.

Ukrainian defenses, particularly in the eastern Donetsk region, are buckling under the strain of Russia’s costly but relentless month-long offensive.

Russian advances have recently accelerated, with battlefield increases of up to 9 kilometers (more than 5 miles) in some parts of Donetsk, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said Tuesday on social platform X.

It said Russia has superior troop numbers and, despite heavy losses, the Kremlin’s recruiting efforts are providing enough new troops to keep up the pressure.

Russia has held the battlefield initiative in Ukraine for the past year. Ukrainian officials have long complained that Western military aid takes too long to reach the country.

In early October, Russian forces drove Ukrainian troops out of Vuhledara city located on top of a tactically significant hill in eastern Ukraine.

It was part of a key belt of Ukrainian defense in the east. Russia’s next target is likely to be Pokrovsk’s central logistics hub and the strategically important town of Chasiv Yar.

Meanwhile, Russia has continued its long-range airstrikes on civilian areas in Ukraine, authorities say.

An attack Tuesday morning on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia killed six people and wounded 23 others, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said.

The head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andrii Yermak, said the Russian attacks “must be stopped with strong action.”

“A stronger position is needed by (Ukraine’s Western) allies,” he wrote on Telegram.

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