Kathmandu. For the first time since the conflict between Moscow and Kiev began, Russia has acknowledged the participation of North Korean troops in the war against Ukraine, state media in both Russia and South Korea have reported.
According to the South Korean news agency Yonhap, during a video conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov said that North Korean troops played a significant role in the liberation of the Kursk border area.
“I would like to highlight the participation of soldiers of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the liberation of the border area of the Kursk region, who provided significant assistance in defeating the attacking group of the Ukrainian armed forces in accordance with the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between our countries,” Gerasimov said in a video conference posted on the Kremlin website. The transcript reads.
Putin claimed that his country had regained control of the Kursk salient, where Ukraine launched a surprise attack last year. According to Putin, the complete defeat of the enemy in the Kursk salient would create the conditions for further successful operations of the Russian army in other important areas of the front and “bring the defeat of the neo-Nazi regime closer.”
The Russian president congratulated and thanked the soldiers of the military units that took part in the liberation of the Kursk salient, according to the state media TASS. Russia’s recognition of North Korean troops comes almost a year after the United States, South Korea, Britain and Ukraine saw North Korean troops on the front lines. But the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a Telegram post that Putin’s claim that hostilities had ended in Kursk was “not true.”
“The defensive operation of the Ukrainian Defense Forces in the designated area of the Kursk region continues. The operational situation is difficult, but our units are holding their positions and performing their assigned tasks,” the Telegram post said, according to a CNN report. The US news outlet reported that “Ukraine launched its surprise attack on Kursk in August, which was the first ground attack on Russia by a foreign power since World War II.”
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump had a brief meeting at the Vatican on Saturday morning at the funeral of the late Pope Francis. A White House spokesman described the meeting as “productive.” Zelensky thanked Trump for the meeting, writing on Twitter, “If we achieve a joint result, it could be historic.” Later on Saturday, Trump raised the possibility of imposing new sanctions on Russia for launching a wave of deadly attacks on Kiev last week. “There was no reason for Putin to launch missiles into civilian areas and cities over the past few days,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
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