RUSSIA – North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia were given fake military documents with Russian names and birthplaces, the Ukrainian military said, amid claims from Kyiv that Russia is trying to conceal the presence of foreign fighters on the battlefield. Ukraine’s special operations forces said in a statement Sunday they had killed three North Korean soldiers in Russia’s western Kursk region and seized their documents. Their military identification documents “lack all the stamps and photos, the patronymic names are given in the Russian manner, and the place of birth is signed as the Republic of Tuva,” the statement said, referring to a Russian region in southern Siberia bordering Mongolia.

But the signatures on the documents are in Korean, which “indicates the real origin of these soldiers,” the statement added. “This case once again confirms that Russia is resorting to any means to hide its losses on the battlefield and conceal foreign presence,” the statement said. US, Ukrainian and South Korean intelligence estimates put the number of North Korean soldiers in Russia between 11,000 to 12,000, some of whom have already engaged in combat operations alongside tens of thousands of Russian forces to assist in recovering parts of Kursk taken in a Ukrainian offensive in August. (CNN)

Photo: North Korean troops train in Russia in footage circulated online. (Reuters)