UKRAINE – North Korean troops have been killed fighting Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk border region, the US has said. These would be the first reported casualties since it emerged in October that North Korea had sent around 10,000 troops to reinforce Russia’s war effort. Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, the GUR, has also said at least 30 North Korean troops had been killed or wounded in fighting over the weekend. The BBC has not independently verified the claims.

The North Korean troops, none of whom will have any previous combat experience, are believed to have spent their first weeks in Russia in training and then in support roles. On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian had begun to use a “significant number” in its assaults in Kursk, part of which Ukraine has occupied since launching a surprise incursion in August. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder said the US believed North Korean soldiers had “engaged in combat in Kursk alongside Russian forces” and “suffered casualties, both killed and wounded”. He did not give specific numbers, but said the troops had been in combat since “a little over a week ago”.

He added it appeared the North Koreans were being used in infantry roles and that their involvement was thought so far to be limited to Kursk, implying that they have not been deployed in Ukraine itself. (BBC)

Photo: North Korean soldiers march during a mass rally in capital Pyongyang. (Getty Images)