Russia confirms North Korean troops are in Ukraine and claims Kursk region is retaken

Russia acknowledged for the first time that North Korean troops were on the front lines of its war with Ukraine, with a senior military official crediting their role in helping Russian forces reclaim control of the Kursk region.

“I would like to separately note the participation ... of military personnel of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” Valery Gerasimov, the Russian chief of general staff, told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a report Saturday.

Gerasimov added that under a “comprehensive, strategic partnership” between the two countries, North Korean soldiers had provided “significant assistance” to Russia’s army in defeating Ukrainian forces.

Putin congratulated his military in a statement from the Kremlin on Saturday, adding that “the full defeat of the enemy in the Kursk border region creates conditions for further successful actions by our forces on other important parts of the front.”

South Korean media reported earlier this year that more than 11,000 North Korean troops were fighting in the western Russian region of Kursk, reports that neither Moscow nor Pyongyang had confirmed until now.

In March, South Korean officials reported that between January and February, North Korea had sent an additional 3,000 troops to Russia after around 4,000 of them were “believed to have been killed or injured” due to inexperience in drone warfare.

Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Saturday. Alexander Kazakov / Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

Shortly after the Trump administration temporarily suspended military and intelligence assistance to Kyiv in March, Russian forces intensified their attacks on Ukrainian troops in the territory.

Ukraine has not yet responded to Putin’s claim, but losing control of the western Russian region would be a significant blow for Kyiv, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has viewed as valuable leverage in any future peace talks.

Ukraine launched an offensive in the Kursk region in January in what appeared to be an effort to seize new territory in the area where Kyiv’s forces first swept across the border with a stunning attack last summer.

Russia’s formal acknowledgement of North Korea’s involvement in the war in Ukraine comes as President Donald Trump has intensified efforts to broker a ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv to end the conflict, which escalated with Russia’s full-scale invasion three years ago.

The Trump administration has also doubled down on demands that Ukraine agree to give up some territory to Russia, including parts of Crimea, as part of the truce, which Zelenskyy has squarely rejected.

Zelenskyy and Trump earlier Saturday held what the White House described as a “very productive” meeting in Rome ahead of the funeral of Pope Francis.

“A good meeting,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X, adding: “A very symbolic meeting that has the potential to become historic if we achieve common results.”