Ukraine-Russia latest: North Korea soldiers in Russia targeted by Ukrainian fire for first time, Kyiv says

More than 10,000 North Korean troops have arrived in Russia to support its war against Ukraine, with a “significant number” in the frontline areas including Kursk, South Korea’s defence ministry said today.

“We understand that more than 10,000 North Korean troops are currently in Russia, and a significant number of them have moved to the frontline areas including Kursk,” Jeon Ha-kyou, a spokesperson for Seoul’s defence ministry, told a briefing, citing intelligence authorities.

But Mr Jeon said he had no information when asked whether the North Koreans were engaged in combat, and about a South Korean media report citing an unnamed government official that as many as 40 North Korean troops had been killed on the battlefield.

The estimates from South Korea come just hours after the Pentagon said that there were at least 10,000 North Korean soldiers in Kursk, near the Ukraine border, but could not corroborate reports that they were engaged in combat.

The U.S. on Wednesday imposed sanctions on 398 firms across Russia, India, China, and more than a dozen other nations — accusing them of providing products and services that enable Russia’s war effort and aid its ability to evade sanctions.

The effort spearheaded by the Treasury and State Departments is aimed at punishing “third party countries” that are accused of providing material assistance to the Kremlin or assisting Russia in evading the thousands of sanctions that have been imposed on the country since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Among those sanctioned by the Treasury Department are 274 companies accused of supplying Russia with advanced technology, as well as Russia-based defense and manufacturing firms that produce or finish military products that maintain the weaponry used against Ukraine.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated Moldova's Maia Sandu on her presidential election victory and reaffirmed Kyiv's commitment to jointly work on a common goal towards European Union membership.

Sandu, the pro-Western incumbent who has accelerated Moldova's push to leave Moscow's orbit, claimed victory in Sunday's closely-fought runoff, defeating Alexandr Stoianoglo, who was backed by the traditionally pro-Russian Socialist Party.

"On behalf of the Ukrainian people I expressed our solidarity with the European choice of the Moldovan people," Zelenskiy said on the social media platform X following a phone conversation with Sandu.

Zelenskiy said he had coordinated the "next steps" on the EU accession path with Sandu.

The United States flew a long-range bomber in a trilateral drill with South Korea and Japan on Sunday in response to North Korea’s recent test-firing of a new intercontinental ballistic missile designed to strike the US mainland, South Korea’s military said.

North Korea on Thursday tested the newly developed Hwasong-19 ICBM, which flew higher and stayed in the air longer than any other missile it has fired. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called it “an appropriate military action” to cope with external security threats posed by its rivals.

It comes as North Korean troops fight on the Ukrainian front line.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky urged its allies to stop “watching” and take steps before North Korean troops deployed in Russia reach the battlefield.

Mr Zelensky raised the prospect of a preemptive Ukrainian strike on camps where the North Korean troops are being trained, and said Kyiv knows their location. But he said Ukraine can’t do it without permission from allies to use Western-made long-range weapons to hit targets deep inside Russia.

“But instead … America is watching, Britain is watching, Germany is watching. Everyone is just waiting for the North Korean military to start attacking Ukrainians as well,” Mr Zelensky said.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said he had discussed the “need for decisive action” in response to North Korean involvement in the war in Ukraine with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock.

“We urge Europe to realize that the DPRK troops are now carrying an aggressive war in Europe against a sovereign European state,” he told a briefing after meeting with Baerbock in Kyiv.

The United States says North Korea has sent thousands of troops to Russia and is poised to join the war in Ukraine on Moscow’s side. Russia has neither confirmed nor denied their presence.

Ukraine is currently facing “one of the most powerful Russian offensives” since the beginning of the war in February 2022, its army chief has warned.

Russia has been steadily making gains in the Donbas region and capturing villages amid reports that North Korea has deployed about 10,000 troops to join Vladimir Putin’s war.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, said the situation on the front line “remains difficult” and certain areas “require constant renewal of resources of Ukrainian units”.

“The Armed Forces of Ukraine are holding back one of the most powerful Russian offensives from launching a full-scale invasion,” the top commander said over the weekend.

The war is entering what Russian analysts say is its most dangerous phase as Moscow’s forces advance, North Korea sends troops to Russia and the West ponders how the conflict will end.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has been traveling the world lobbying Nato countries to allow Kyiv the use of the long-range missiles they have provided to strike targets deep inside Russia.

A court in Russia's far-eastern city of Vladivostok on Friday convicted a former U.S. Consulate worker charged with cooperating with a foreign state and sentenced him to four years and 10 months in prison.

Robert Shonov, a Russian citizen and former employee of the U.S. Consulate in Vladivostok, was arrested in May 2023. Russia's top domestic security agency, the FSB, accused him of “gathering information about the special military operation" in Ukraine, a partial call-up in Russian regions and its influence on "protest activities of the population in the runup to the 2024 presidential election.”

The U.S. State Department last year condemned the arrest and said the allegations against Shonov “are wholly without merit.”

The Biden administration announced Friday it was sending an additional $425 million in military assistance to Ukraine as Kyiv prepares to face Russian forces augmented by more than 10,000 North Korean troops.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had said more aid was coming, and soon, during his visit to Kyiv last week. This aid package includes weapons that will be pulled from existing U.S. stockpiles, including air defense interceptors for National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and 155 mm artillery, and armored vehicles and anti-tank weapons.