North Korean Troops Actively Fighting Ukrainian Forces in Russia’s Kursk, Says Washington

North Korean military personnel are fighting alongside their Russian counterparts in Russia’s western Kursk region, parts of which Ukrainian forces overran this summer in a cross-border offensive, the U.S. State Department has announced. “I can confirm that over 10,000 [North Korean] soldiers have been sent to eastern Russia,” State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said at a Nov. 12 press briefing. He added that most of these had been deployed to Russia’s western Kursk region, where, he said, “they have begun engaging in combat operations with Russian forces” against Ukrainian troops. “The United States is consulting closely with our allies and partners and other countries in the region on the implications of this,” Patel told reporters....