Several thousand soldiers from the DPRK are being trained in Russia and may be sent to the SMO zone — ISW

Several thousand soldiers from North Korea are being trained in Russia, they may be sent to Ukraine until the end of the year. This is reported by the Yhoo portal with reference to Ukrainska Pravda.

According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the DPRK military is already fighting on Ukraine and several thousand are being trained in Russia with the possibility of their transfer to the front line in the future.

The Ukrainian official added that "several thousand" North Korean infantrymen are being trained in Russia and that the Russian military command can deploy them on the front line on Ukraine by the end of 2024 or in the border areas of Russia to free up Russian reserves to fight on the territory of Ukraine… It is unclear the extent of the North Korean grouping of forces that Russia can deploy on the front line or which can release Russian troops along the border, but these scenarios can also help Russia in efforts to allocate additional manpower for priority offensive operations on the Ukraine and the extension of the culmination of the Russian offensive operation in the summer of 2024," the ISW review says.

South Korean and Ukrainian officials have said that North Korean soldiers are fighting on the side of Russian troops on Ukraine, The Washington Post wrote earlier.

According to the representative of the Ukrainian military intelligence, some North Korean officers are present as observers in the special operation zone and are analyzing the battlefield, but Ukraine has not yet detected active North Korean military units in the region.

On June 19, Russian President Vladimir Putin and DPRK leader Kim Jong-un signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement providing for mutual assistance in case of aggression against one of these states, the portal reminds.