Ukraine attacks North Korean troops in Russia for the first time

LUkraine says it attacked North Korean soldiers in Russia for the first time. This allegedly happened in the Russian border region of Kursk, Andri Kovalenko, a member of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, said on Telegram on Monday. He did not give further details.

Pyongyang has reportedly sent some 10,000 troops to Russia to support Moscow in its war against Ukraine, a country that Russia invaded in February 2022.

Last Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that some 8,000 North Korean troops would be in Kursk. In August, kyiv managed to capture parts of this Russian region thanks to an unexpected counter-offensive. Meanwhile, Russian troops continue to advance into eastern Ukraine, according to Moscow.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced last Friday what he called the gross inadequacy of the reaction of his Western allies to the presence of North Korean troops in Russia. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, for his part, described the North Korean deployment as a “significant escalation”.