War in Ukraine: “integrated into Russian formations”, North Korean soldiers will “soon” fight kyiv’s army, says Pentagon chief

The United States anticipates that thousands of North Korean troops stationed in Russia will “soon” fight Ukrainian forces, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said Saturday.

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The US Secretary of Defense estimates that some 10,000 members of the North Korean army are in the Russian region of Kursk, bordering Ukraine and partly occupied by kyiv's forces, and are “integrated into the formations Russians.

“Based on what (the North Korean soldiers) have been trained to do, the way in which they have been integrated into Russian formations, I fully expect to see them engaged in combat soon,” Lloyd Austin told journalists from the Fiji Islands, where he is visiting.

Lloyd Austin said he had “not seen any significant reports” of North Korean soldiers “actively engaged in combat” to date.

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Fuel, missiles and economic aid

South Korean government officials and a research organization said this week that Moscow was providing fuel, anti-aircraft missiles and economic aid to Pyongyang in exchange for troops – which Seoul and Washington accuse North Korea of ​​sending. .

kyiv warned that Russia had assembled some 50,000 troops, including several thousand North Korean troops, to regain control of areas of the Kursk region occupied by the Ukrainian army which launched an offensive there in early August.