North Korea sends three army generals to the Russian front: Ukraine

North Korea plans to send generals to help Russian forces in their war against Ukraine, kyiv said.

Some 500 officers, including three generals, will be among the 12,000 North Korean soldiers expected to be deployed to Russia. Ukraine“the defense intelligence agency wrote in a statement on Telegram on Thursday. The agency did not disclose the basis for this claim.

The statement came a day after the United States assessed that at least 3,000 North Korean troops were already in the country. Speaking in Rome, Defense Secretary lloyd austin He told reporters that if Moscow and Pyongyang were “co-belligerents,” it would be “a very, very very serious affair.”

North Korea has denied having troops on the ground for its ally, as South Korean sources first alleged last week. He Kremlin has downplayed the reports, emphasizing that its dealings with North Korea are within the bounds of international law.

news week contacted Ukraine’s Defense Ministry and the North Korean embassy in China for comment via email.

According to the Ukrainian intelligence agency, the North Koreans are receiving “several weeks” of training at five training camps in Russia’s Far East.

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov has been tasked with overseeing the acclimatization and training of arriving North Koreans, who are reportedly being provided with winter clothing, bedding, ammunition and toiletries.

The Ukrainian statement noted that the first North Korean units had already reached the front lines in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces have been engaged in a counteroffensive since early August, putting Russian forces on the defensive.

Some 2,000 soldiers are reportedly being deployed toward western Russia near the border with Ukraine, Japan’s Kyodo News said Thursday, citing Ukrainian military intelligence.

At least some North Korean troops reportedly entered combat earlier this week, with a chinese mercenary claiming on social media that eight North Korean soldiers died shortly after joining the fighting. Last week, Ukrainian media cited intelligence officials as saying that Russia was searching for at least 18 suspected North Korean defectors.

On Thursday, Russian lawmakers ratified the military agreement reached between the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the Russian president Vladimir Putin during the latter’s state visit to Pyongyang in June. The pact, the first of its kind since the Cold War, obliges both nations to provide “all means” of military assistance if either is attacked.

The treaty has further escalated tensions on the Korean Peninsula, and South Korea is considering providing offensive equipment to Ukraine directly. Seoul has reiterated this position since news of the North Korean deployments became known.