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Ukraine reports first clash with North Korean troops deployed by Russia

06 November 2024 12:42 (UTC +04:00)

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry confirmed on Tuesday that its forces had engaged with North Korean troops deployed by Russia, marking the first such confrontation, APA reports citing DW.

In an interview with South Korean television, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov confirmed that there had been a "small engagement" with North Korean troops.

Another Kyiv official said troops had fired artillery at North Korean soldiers in the Russian border region of Kursk, where the Ukrainian military has been staging a three-month-old incursion on Moscow's territory.

The head of the counter-disinformation branch of Ukraine's Security Council, Andrii Kovalenko, said: "The first North Korean troops have already been shelled, in the Kursk region." He did not elaborate.

Zelenskyy, in his nightly video address, thanked allies around the world who, he said, had reacted to the dispatch of North Korean troops to Russia last month "not just with words ... but who are preparing actions to support our defense."

"The first battles with North Korean soldiers open a new page of instability in the world," he said.

The president said that Ukraine and the international community had to "do everything so that this Russian step to expand the war with real escalation fails."

Ukrainian, South Korean and US sources all report that North Korea has transferred at least 10,000 soldiers to Russia , with some reports mentioning numbers up to 12,000.