North Korea has deployed additional troops to support Russia in its war against Ukraine, South Korea's intelligence agency said, quoted by DPA, BTA reported.
South Korean intelligence said more North Korean troops had been sent to the front line in the Kursk region of Russia, although the number was still being investigated, Yonhap reported. "After a month-long lull, North Korean troops were returned to the Kursk front line area in the first week of February," the intelligence agency said.
South Korean military officials said they had information that more than 1,000 North Korean soldiers had been sent to Russia this year. In mid-January, South Korea's intelligence agency reported that about 300 North Korean soldiers had been killed and about 2,700 wounded in the fighting around the Kursk region.
North Korea is believed to have sent about 11,000 troops to the Kursk region last year, Yonhap reported. Since then, South Korean intelligence has been working closely with Ukrainian intelligence.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said Russian troops had captured two villages in the Kursk region. They had retaken the villages of Pogrebki and Orlovka, north of the town of Sudzha, near the Russian-Ukrainian border, the Russian ministry said.
Against this backdrop, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised his troops for their "good results" in the Kursk region and praised front-line units in the Donetsk region for launching counterattacks against Russian forces. Reuters emphasizes that it has not been able to independently confirm the battlefield reports from either side.