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

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian troops have clashed with North Korean units for the first time Recently deployed to help Russia at war with its neighbor, Ukraine's defense minister said on Tuesday.

Another Kiev official said the Ukrainian army fired artillery at North Korean soldiers in 2019 Russia's Kursk border region.

The comments were the first official reports of Ukrainian and North Korean forces engaging in combat following an operation the war a new complexion as it approaches its 1,000-day milestone.

None of the claims have been independently verified.

Ukrainian and North Korean troops fought “small” battles, marking the beginning of Pyongyang's direct involvement in Europe's largest conflict since World War II, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov told South Korean public broadcaster KBS in an interview.

North Korean soldiers were mixed in with Russian troops and misidentified on their uniforms, Umerov was quoted as saying by KBS. Therefore, it is difficult to say whether there were North Korean casualties, he said.

Umerov reportedly said he expected five North Korean units, each with about 3,000 troops, to be stationed in the Kursk area.

Meanwhile, Andrii Kovalenko, head of the department for combating disinformation in the Security Council of Ukraine, said that “the first North Korean troops have already been fired on in the Kursk region.”

He did not provide any further details.

Western governments had expected the North Korean soldiers to be sent to the Russian border region of Kursk, where a three-month-long invasion by the Ukrainian army represents the first occupation of Russian territory since World War II and has embarrassed the Kremlin.

U.S., South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence estimates that up to 12,000 North Korean combat troops will be sent to war by Pyongyang as part of a pact with Moscow.

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

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

The effects reached far beyond Europe, it was said.

“Despite integration challenges – including communication barriers and different 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 engaged in a European conflict.”

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

Ukraine's defenses, particularly in the eastern Donetsk region, are weakening under the strain of Russia's costly but relentless months-long assault.

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

It said Russia had superior troop numbers and, despite heavy losses, the Kremlin's recruitment campaign was providing enough new troops to keep up the pressure.

Russia implemented the Battlefield Initiative in Ukraine last year. Ukrainian officials I've been complaining for a long time that it takes too long for Western military support to arrive in the country.

Russian armed forces in early October drove Ukrainian troops out of Vuhledara city on a tactically important hill in eastern Ukraine.

It was part of an important defensive belt of Ukraine in the east. Russia's next targets are likely to be the main logistics center Pokrovsk and the strategically important city of Khasiv Yar.

Meanwhile, Russia has continued its widespread airstrikes on civilian areas in Ukraine, authorities say.

Six people were killed and 23 others wounded in an attack on Tuesday morning in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said.

The head of Ukraine's presidential office, Andriy Yermak, said the Russian attacks “must be stopped with strong measures.”

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

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