North Korean Troops Deployed to New Russian Frontline Region

North Korean troops have been deployed to a new Russian frontline region, a Ukrainian official said Friday.

On October 23, U.S. officials confirmed that North Korea had sent troops to Russia to aid the country in its ongoing war against Ukraine, which began when Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Kyiv in February 2022. Meanwhile, a North Korean representative to the United Nations (U.N.) said last month that reports that Pyongyang is sending soldiers to Moscow were "groundless rumors."

On Monday, Deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters that it is likely that roughly 11,000 North Korean troops have entered Russia's Kursk region. The Kursk region, located along Russia's border with Ukraine, was the site of Kyiv's surprise incursion in August. Singh added that the North Korean troops are "moving into Kursk for a reason. We have every expectation that they would be engaged in combat operations."

Andrii Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council's Center for Countering Disinformation, wrote on Telegram on Friday that some North Korean troops have moved into the Belgorod region.

"Part of the military from the DPRK was transferred to the border area of the Belgorod region," he wrote, using North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). "There are none in the Kharkiv region."

The Belgorod Oblast is south of the Kursk Oblast and directly across from the Kharkiv Oblast in Ukraine, which holds Kyiv's second-largest city, Kharkiv. The Russian city of Belgorod has been a target of Ukrainian strikes in the past.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian government via online form and Ukraine's foreign affairs ministry via email for comment on Saturday afternoon.

Firefighters and volunteers operate to secure the area on the site of a partially collapsed apartment building which was damaged by a Ukrainian strike in Belgorod on May 12. North Korean troops have been deployed... Stringer/AFP via Getty Images

Meanwhile, a senior Ukrainian military source told Reuters in an article published on Saturday that Ukraine has lost more than 40 percent of the territory that it seized in its surprise attack in the Kursk region late this summer.

"At most, we controlled about 1,376 square kilometres [roughly 531 square miles], now of course this territory is smaller. The enemy is increasing its counterattacks," said the unnamed source, who is on the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The source added: "Now we control approximately 800 square kilometres [roughly 309 square miles]. We will hold this territory for as long as is militarily appropriate."

President Joe Biden, meanwhile, recently authorized Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied missiles deeper inside Russia, granting a months-long request from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The decision to allow Ukraine to use the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMs) farther into Russian territory came amid the deployment of North Korean troops along Ukraine's northern border.

North Korean troops in Russia signal growing ties between Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un following the signing of a "comprehensive strategic partnership treaty" between the two countries in June.

The treaty, which was signed when Putin visited North Korea over the summer, states that Moscow and Pyongyang must immediately provide military aid using "all means" if either is attacked.

In exchange for thousands of North Korean soldiers, Russia has provided Pyongyang with air defense missiles and military equipment, according to South Korea's national security adviser.

Shin Won-sik revealed on Friday during a broadcast on SBS TV that Russia has supplied North Korea with advanced military technologies to enhance the regime's defense capabilities, particularly around Pyongyang.