Source: Voice of America / globalsecurity.org – Zelenskyy: Ukraine fighting ‘first battles’ with North Korean troops deployed to Russia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that his country’s forces have engaged in battle with the North Korean troops that were deployed to Russia to assist in its war on Ukraine. (…)
Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s defense minister, also has confirmed the arrival of the North Korean forces. In an interview with South Korea’s public broadcaster KBS, he said the Ukrainian and North Korean forces has engaged in “small-scale” fighting.
“The first North Korean troops have already been shelled in the Kursk region,” Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the counter-disinformation branch of Ukraine’s Security Council said.
According to a U.S. official quoted by The New York Times late Tuesday, a “significant number” of North Korean troops had been killed, though the report said it was not clear when the fighting had occurred.
Earlier Tuesday, Ukraine’s military said it shot down two Russian guided missiles as well as 48 of the 79 drones that Russian forces used in overnight attacks.
The intercepts took place over the Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, Odesa, Poltava, Sumy and Zhytomyr regions, the Ukrainian air force said. (…)
A spokesperson for the South Korean Defense Ministry said at a briefing Tuesday that there are more than 10,000 North Korea soldiers currently in Russia, including a portion deployed to front line areas, such as in Kursk. (…)
Read Full Article >>> www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/ukraine/2024/11/ukraine-241105-voa01.htm
Illustration © Luzitanija, 123RF
