Ukraine says North Korean soldiers are training to fight for Russia

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian intelligence believes North Korea has expanded its support for Russia's war in Ukraine from providing weapons to sending thousands of its own soldiers to fight for the Kremlin, a source tells NBC News.

The news was previously reported by various media outlets.

“The first units are already being formed for deployment in the border areas and Russian territories,” the intelligence source said on Tuesday.

Several thousand soldiers are being trained in the Russian Far East, the source added.

“These units are also being equipped and prepared for deployment,” possibly toward Kursk, a Russian region where Ukrainian forces launched an invasion in August.

The first group of North Korean soldiers is currently in Ulan-Ude, the capital of Russia's Buryatia region, the source said.

On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that North Koreans were fighting with Russia and that there was “a growing alliance between Russia and regimes like North Korea.”

“This is no longer just about the arms transfer,” he said in his evening video speech. “It’s actually about handing over people from North Korea to the occupying forces.”

The State Department said Tuesday it was concerned about reports of North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia.

“If this is true, it would represent a significant expansion of the relationship between these two countries, the relationship that has developed in recent months,” said spokesman Matthew Miller.

Asked about the claim on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was a hoax.

It comes at a time when Russia is suffering multiple setbacks, not only in Ukraine, where it is struggling with casualties and depleted ammunition, but also in Kursk, the first Russian territory to be under foreign military occupation since World War II .

U.S. officials said Pyongyang is already supplying Moscow with much-needed munitions, including millions of artillery shells, in return for key military technology for its nuclear and missile programs.

Moscow and Pyongyang deny any arms transfers but committed to strengthening their military ties in June when Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a pact in Pyongyang that included a promise of mutual defense.

So far, the North Korean military has failed to get real-time feedback on its weapons, said General Charles Flynn, the US Army commander in the Indo-Pacific.

“They don’t have very good reach in North Korea,” he said Tuesday at the Center for a New American Security in Washington.

That could change with the involvement of North Korean soldiers in the Ukraine war.

“This kind of feedback from a real battlefield to North Korea to be able to make adjustments to its weapons, its munitions, its capabilities and even its population — is very concerning to me,” Flynn said.

Anastasiia Parafeniuk reported from Kiev, Ukraine, and Mithil Aggarwal reported from Hong Kong.