The US and Ukraine last night signed a $20 billion loan agreement to be given to Kiev by Washington with money from frozen Russian assets. reported Reuters, quoted by BTA.
This is the American share of the new military aid to Ukraine, worth a total of $50 billion, agreed between the G-7 countries - the world's most influential economies, the agency specifies.
The contract was signed by US Finance Minister Janet Yellen and her Ukrainian counterpart Serhii Marchenko. 20 billion dollars is the share of the EU, and the remaining 10 billion will be provided by other G-7 member countries outside the European Union - Great Britain, Canada and Japan.
"In other words, now Ukraine can get the help it needs without burdening taxpayers," US President Joe Biden said in a statement, as quoted by Reuters.
Britain has publicly announced that its levy will be close to $3 billion (£2.26 billion). Its funds will go specifically to purchase weapons and to restore damaged infrastructure.
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, thanked his Western allies for the new military aid, DPA reported.
The allocated 50 billion dollars from the G-7 - the group of world economic powers, will help Ukraine for its defense and resistance, the Ukrainian head of state said last night in his traditional video address to the nation.
He added that this amount must be paid before the end of the year to help his country fight Russian aggression in a war that has been going on for nearly 1,000 days.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced today that there is evidence that North Korea has sent its soldiers to Russia, the Associated Press reported. If these soldiers take part on the side of Moscow in the war against Ukraine, it will be a "very serious problem" and there will be "potential consequences," Austin said, quoted by the AP and BTA.
South Korea's intelligence chief told lawmakers in Seoul that 3,000 North Korean soldiers are already in Russia, where they are taking part in training with drones and other equipment, and will then be sent to the battlefield in Ukraine.
"We are seeing evidence that North Korean soldiers have been sent to Russia. It remains to be seen what exactly they are doing there," Pentagon chief Austin told reporters in the Italian capital Rome, where he was visiting. This was the first confirmation from the US that Pyongyang had sent its soldiers to Russia.
"If they are drawn into the war and they intend to participate in that war on behalf of Russia, that is a very, very serious problem that will have repercussions not only in Europe but also in the Indo-Pacific region," Austin said.
White House spokesman John Kirby later said the US believed at least 3,000 North Korean troops arrived by ship in mid-October in Vladivostok.
"These soldiers then traveled to a number of military bases in eastern Russia where they underwent training. "We don't know yet if they will go into battle on the side of the Russian army, but there is such a disturbing possibility," the spokesman said.
Kirby indicated that they could head into western Russia and engage in combat against Ukrainian forces..
They would be a legitimate target if sent to Ukraine, Kirby said.
"For now, we still do not know if these soldiers will fight on the side of the Russian army,", the spokesman for the National Security Council said.
In his words, however, there is such a "disturbing possibility".
Minister Austin described the deployment as the "next step" that Pyongyang has taken after already supplying Russia with weapons. In his words, North Korea is about to suffer consequences for its direct aid to Moscow. He did not provide additional information, saying only that experts are analyzing the situation.
Earlier this month, South Korean intelligence first revealed that the Russian navy had received 1,500 soldiers from North Korea's special forces. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his government has intelligence that 10,000 North Korean soldiers are being groomed to join Russian forces.
Russia and North Korea reject claims that Pyongyang is sending military personnel to the front in Ukraine. Over the past two years, Pyongyang and Moscow have sharply increased their cooperation, and in June signed a major defense agreement that requires both countries to use all available means to provide immediate military assistance to each other if either is attacked. .
South Korean officials have raised concerns that Russia could reward North Korea with advanced military technology that would boost nuclear and missile programs aimed at Seoul. South Korea said yesterday that it plans to respond by sending weapons to Ukraine.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has warned that sending North Korean troops to Ukraine would signal a "significant escalation". He announced that he had asked the South Korean president to send experts to Brussels to provide the alliance with up-to-date information.
Lawmakers in Seoul say, citing intelligence chiefs, that by December, Pyongyang plans to send a total of 10,000 troops to Russia. In addition, according to South Korea, soldiers are being trained to operate drones, but have not yet been involved in combat operations.
According to Suel's intelligence, the Russian military has a high opinion of the fighting spirit and physical strength of North Korean soldiers, but believes that they do not have a good enough understanding of modern methods of warfare, which could lead to heavy casualties.
South Korean intelligence also claims that North Korea is moving family members of soldiers selected to be sent to Russia to special locations to isolate them. According to Seoul, the authorities in Pyongyang hid from the citizens their plan to send military personnel to Russia.
British Defense Secretary John Healy said after a meeting with his German counterpart Boris Pistorius in London that it was highly likely that Pyongyang had sent troops to Russia. Pistorius said international conflicts are becoming "closer to each other and more interconnected," increasing the challenges of dealing with them.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, one of Russian leader Vladimir Putin's closest allies, said in televised interviews last night that the involvement of third-country troops in Ukraine's conflict between Moscow and Kiev would inevitably lead to his escalation, reported Reuters, quoted by BTA.
Lukashenko's comment was on the occasion of the statement of the United States, which announced for the first time that it had come across evidence of the presence of 3,000 North Korean military personnel in Russia. Deputies in South Korea also informed about the same.
In separate interviews with the British BBC television channel and Russian state television, the Belarusian president stated that the use of Russian nuclear weapons located in Belarus on any occasion requires his personal consent.
Incumbent since 1994, Lukashenko, who said he would run again in January's presidential election if the people wanted him, rejected the idea that North Korea had sent troops to fight on Russia's side in Ukraine.
"Nonsense," Lukashenko told the BBC on the sidelines of the BRICS summit. "Knowing what kind of person Putin is, I can say that he would never convince another country to involve its army in the Russian special operation in Ukraine,", he also said.