Russia has admitted for the first time that it deployed North Korean soldiers in the fighting to push Ukrainian forces out of the Kursk region after Kiev's shock invasion last year.
General Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the Russian General Staff, told President Vladimir Putin in a video conference that North Korean soldiers had made a significant contribution to the "liberation" of the region from Ukrainian soldiers.
The comments confirmed what Ukrainian and Western officials have long said - that Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to fight alongside Russian forces. U.S. officials have said more than 11.000 North Korean soldiers have taken part in the fighting and suffered huge losses. Gerasimov said the Korean mission was in line with a partnership agreement between the two countries.
"The soldiers and officers of the Korean People's Army who fought side by side with Russian soldiers in repelling the Ukrainian invasion demonstrated high professionalism, courage, daring and heroism in combat," Gerasimov told Putin.
Russia claimed to have pushed Ukrainian forces out of most of Kursk, although Kiev said its forces were managing to hold on in the Russian region.
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