About 8,000 North Korean Troops At Ukraine border, U.S. Says

The United States said on Thursday it assesses that about 8,000 North Korean troops are currently stationed in Russia's Kursk border region and are expected to enter the Kremlin’s war with Ukraine in the “coming days,” TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

Moscow has been training some 10,000 North Koreans in artillery, basic infantry operations, drones and trench clearing, indicating that it fully intends to use these forces in front line operations, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin told reporters at the State Department following a meeting with their South Korean counterparts.

The announcement was the clearest statement yet from Washington that it anticipated the first large-scale deployment of foreign troops into the Russia-Ukraine war, which could expand the largest land war in Europe since the second world war into a multi-region conflict, tying in the rising tensions in the Korean peninsula between North and South Korea.

Blinken and Austin believe that Russia's Vladimir Putin’s reliance on the new troops is a sign the Kremlin is struggling in the fight. The U.S. has assessed the Russian military is suffering 1,200 casualties per day, more than at any time in the war.

“Putin has been throwing more Russians into a meat grinder of his own making in Ukraine. Now he's turning to North Korean troops, and that is a clear sign of weakness,” Blinken said.

Austin, meanwhile, said the 10,000 North Korean soldiers assessed to be in Russia “won't come close” to replacing the numbers Moscow has lost.

Both Washington and Seol have issued a warning to Pyongyang to remove their troops from Russia, with the U.S. making it clear that North Korean troops would become “legitimate military targets” if they fought against Ukraine directly.

Austin warned: "Make no mistake, If these North Korean troops engage in combat or combat support operations against Ukraine, they would make themselves legitimate military targets."

Thursday's meeting in Washington also came just hours after Pyongyang conducted its longest ever test flight of an intercontinental ballistic missile, triggering questions over a potential agreement between Putin and Kim Jong-un for North Korea’s support in the war against Ukraine in exchange for Russian military or space technology.