KYIV
\nUkraine said Monday that its troops killed or wounded at least 30 North Korean soldiers who had been deployed by Russia to its western Kursk region, where Ukraine has seized territory.
\nThousands of troops from North Korea have come to reinforce Russian forces, including in the Kursk border region where Russia has been clawing back territory after a surprise offensive from Ukrainian forces this summer.
\n\u201cOn December 14 and 15, army units from the Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea (DPRK) suffered significant losses near the villages of Plekhovo, Vorozhba, Martynovka in the Kursk region of Russia \u2014 at least 30 soldiers were killed and wounded,\u201d Ukraine\u2019s military intelligence said.
\nThe units are \u201cbeing replenished with fresh personnel\u201d from North Korea, which Western officials estimate has sent at least 10,000 soldiers to help Moscow.
\nRussia and North Korea have boosted their military ties since Moscow\u2019s invasion.
\nRussia has begun deploying \u201ca noticeable number\u201d of North Koreans in assaults to push Ukrainian troops out of the Kursk region, Zelensky said on Saturday.
\nHe said that according to his information, \u201cthe Russians include (North Koreans) in combined units and use them in operations in the Kursk region,\u201d where Ukraine launched an incursion in August.
\nZelensky said he has also heard the North Koreans \u201cmay be used in other parts of the front line,\u201d and that \u201closses among this category are also already noticeable.\u201d
\nRussia\u2019s defense ministry said last week its troops recaptured some small settlements in the Kursk region.
\nLast month a Ukrainian army source told AFP that Kyiv controls 800 square kilometers of territory there, down from previous claims it controlled around 1,400 square kilometers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KYIV Ukraine said Monday that its troops killed or wounded at least 30 North Korean soldiers who had been deployed by Russia to its western Kursk region, where Ukraine has seized territory. Thousands of troops from North Korea have come to reinforce Russian forces, including in the Kursk border region where Russia has been clawing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449865,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-449846","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n