Tokyo, Nov 13 (EFE).- Some 50,000 Russian and North Korean soldiers deployed in the Russian region of Kursk have recently entered combat against Ukrainian forces, a senior official in Kyiv told Japanese news agency Kyodo Wednesday.
The unidentified source said “intense fighting” has erupted on the front in which there have already been casualties among North Korean soldiers, in line with what the United States announced Tuesday, when it confirmed the troops were now fighting Ukrainian forces.
Vedant Patel, a US state department deputy spokesman, made the announcement amid growing concern in the West over North Korea’s troop deployment and its impact on Moscow’s long-running war in Ukraine.
“Over 10,000 (North Korean) soldiers have been sent to eastern Russia, and most of them have moved to the far western Kursk Oblast, where they have begun engaging in combat operations with Russian forces,” Patel said.
These developments come a day after North Korea ratified its strategic partnership treaty with Russia, which includes a mutual defense clause, North Korean state media reported Tuesday, and after Pyongyang sent troops to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
According to Ukraine and some of its allies, North Korea has already deployed some 11,000 troops in Russia.
Russia, which has so far neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Korean troops on its territory, says the treaty with the Pyongyang regime is of a “defensive nature and is not directed against the security of third countries.”
In a recent report by Russian state agency TASS, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke of the possibility of both countries carrying out joint military exercises, which would be a further step in deepening their military cooperation. EFE
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