By Monday, there will be up to 5,000 North Korean special forces in the Kursk region — NYT

Soldiers from the elite unit of the Korean People's Army began arriving in the Kursk region on Wednesday to take part in the liberation of Russian territory from the Ukrainian Armed Forces. It is reported by The New York Times with reference to the Ukrainian and two American officials.

"Several thousand North Korean soldiers have arrived in Russia's western Kursk region, where they are expected to take part in an upcoming counteroffensive aimed at ousting Ukrainian troops who have occupied part of the region since August, one Ukrainian and two American officials said on Friday," the newspaper writes.

The first North Korean units arrived in the Kursk region on Wednesday, and since then thousands more DPRK army troops have joined them every day. Up to 5,000 North Korean troops are expected to be in the region by Monday, a senior Ukrainian official familiar with the troop movements said.

The troops, according to officials, are part of the elite unit of the Korean People's Army (KPA). They are being transferred from Vladivostok on huge Il-76 transport planes to a military airfield in western Russia, and then taken to a combat zone, the Ukrainian official informed.

There have been mixed signals about whether additional North Korean troops will be sent to participate in hostilities on the territory of Ukraine, at the moment they are concentrated only in the Kursk region, he noted.

North Korean military personnel have not yet joined the battle and it is not yet clear what role they will play, officials said. However, according to them, regardless of their role, any significant contingent of North Korean troops will allow the Russian Federation to maintain more of its forces in eastern Ukraine in order to occupy as much territory as possible before the onset of winter.