Latest news with #Kursk
BBC News
2 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
N Korea to send thousands to help rebuild Russia's Kursk
South Korean intelligence offficers say there are an estimated 15,000 North Koreans working in Russia under bilateral industrial co-operation programmes - a source of revenue for Pyongyang. Separately, Western officials had in January told the BBC that at least 1,000 of an estimated 11,000 North Korean troops in Russia had been killed in just three months. A Seoul lawmaker said in April that they believed there were about 4,700 North Korean casualties, including 600 deaths. Analysts have said that Pyongyang could be paid, or may be given access to Russian military technology in exchange for the troops. Both North Korea and Russia confirmed the presence of the North Korean troops in April - an admission that was condemned by South Korea and the US. At the time, Seoul described the deployment as "illegal", saying that it was in violation of the UN Charter and the UN Security Council resolutions. However, top Russian and North Korean officials have maintained regular contact as the war in Ukraine continues. When Shoigu visited Pyongyang earlier this month, Kim vowed to support Russia "unconditionally", including on "the Ukrainian issue", North Korean state media reported. Earlier in April, Russia also claimed it had regained full control of the western Kursk region - which has been denied by Ukraine.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
North Korea will send 5,000 military construction workers to Russia, Kremlin says
North Korea is sending 5,000 military construction workers and 1,000 sappers to Russia 's Kursk oblast, where Moscow is repairing widespread damage from a Ukrainian incursion, according to a top Kremlin official. Presidential security adviser Sergei Shoigu said the workers would help rebuild the strategic border region, which was invaded by the Ukrainian military last August and retaken by Russian forces earlier this year. The dispatch of the workers was discussed in Mr Shoigu's meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, state media outlet KCNA reported on Wednesday. The meeting between the North Korean leader and Mr Shoigu, secretary of the Russian security council and a close aide of president Vladimir Putin, took place in Pyongyang on Tuesday where the two discussed a 'special military operation' in the Kursk region. This was the former Russian defence minister's second meeting with the leader in less than three months. They also discussed mutual cooperation plans for Moscow's rebuilding of the Kursk region, KCNA stated. They further talked about commemorating the 'heroic feats' of North Korean troops who fought alongside the Russians in Kursk. In April, Mr Putin congratulated his military after Russia claimed to have expelled all Ukrainian troops from Kursk with the help of North Korean soldiers. Kyiv has denied losing territory in Kursk. His comments had come shortly after a rare admission by North Korea that it had sent troops to fight for Russia in the war against Ukraine. KCNA reported North Korea's ruling party as saying its contribution in Kursk showed the "highest strategic level of the firm militant friendship" with Russia. The latest decision by North Korea to send workers to Russia was criticised by South Korea, with the rival country's foreign ministry saying on Wednesday the dispatch would be a clear violation of UN sanctions. The ministry called on Pyongyang to immediately halt such cooperations with Russia. Meanwhile, South Korean president Lee Jae Myung and Japan's prime minister Shigeru Ishiba agreed to cooperate further on North Korea as they met at the G7 summit in Canada, their offices said. According to American, South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence officials, North Korea sent over 10,000 soldiers to Russia last fall in its first participation in a major armed conflict since the 1950-53 Korean War. More than 6,000 of them were killed or injured fighting in Kursk, the British defence ministry said in an assessment on Sunday. 6,000 casualties in offensive combat operations against Ukrainian forces in the Russian oblast of Kursk,' the ministry said, using North Korea 's official name.
Al Arabiya
2 days ago
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Russia says captured another village in Ukraine's Sumy region
Russia's army said Wednesday that its forces had captured another village in Ukraine's northeastern Sumy region, where Moscow has stepped up its offensive in recent weeks. The Russian troops captured Novomykolaivka in Sumy, a settlement around four kilometers (two miles) from the Ukraine-Russia border, the defense ministry said on Telegram. The advance of Moscow's army comes as peace talks have stalled and as Russia rejects the unconditional truce demanded by Kyiv and its European allies. Ukraine has dismissed Russia's demands as 'ultimatums.' Russia first tried to capture the regional capital Sumy at the start of its offensive in 2022, before being pushed back in a Ukrainian counter-offensive later that year. In 2024, Kyiv used the Sumy region as the base for its own armed incursion into Russia's western Kursk region. After recapturing the Kursk territory earlier this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his army to once again advance across the border to push back Ukraine's forces. Sumy is not one of the five Ukrainian regions that Russia claims to have formally annexed. Russia's defense ministry said Wednesday that its troops had also captured the settlement of Dovgenke in the Kharkiv region.
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Kim Jong-un will send troops to help Putin rebuild Kursk
North Korea will send thousands of military construction workers and deminers to Russia to help with rebuilding efforts. Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, had agreed to send 1,000 sappers to clear mines and 5,000 military construction workers 'to restore infrastructure destroyed by the occupiers' in the war-torn Kursk region, according to Sergei Shoigu, the secretary of the Russian Security Council. Relations between the two countries have been rapidly expanding in recent months following the implementation of a defence treaty signed in November last year. North Korea has already supplied an estimated 15,000 troops, as well as ballistic missiles and munitions, to Russia to support its war against Ukraine. An estimated 4,000 soldiers have been killed or injured in the conflict, according to South Korea. Both Kim and Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, publicly acknowledged the deployment in April, confirming that North Korean troops had fought alongside Russian soldiers for nine months in Kursk. According to RIA Novosti, a Russian state media outlet, Mr Shoigu, said on Wednesday: 'Following the expulsion of invaders from Russian soil, we've agreed to continue our constructive co-operation, with the Korean side providing assistance in the restoration of the Kursk region. 'This is a kind of brotherly aid being sent by the Korean people and their leader, Kim Jong-un, to our country.' In return, Russia has provided North Korea with short-range air-defence systems and advanced electronic warfare systems and is reportedly also offering assistance with Pyongyang's drone programme. For his part, Kim confirmed North Korea's expanding co-operation with Russia, but did not comment on the dispatch of construction workers or deminers, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Kim only expressed the 'steadfast' will of the North Korean people to 'invariably and unconditionally' support Russia. KCNA also said that Kim and Putin have been exchanging ' personal letters for several weeks ' to discuss co-operation and the long-term plans of their partnership. This is Mr Shoigu's third visit to North Korea in nearly three months and he told TASS, another Russian state media outlet, that the frequency of trips has been spurred on by the strategic partnership between the two countries. To commemorate the growing ties between the two countries, Mr Shoigu said Moscow and Pyongyang have agreed to erect memorials in each country to honour the North Korean soldiers who died while fighting in Kursk. He also said that he hopes for air travel to resume between Russia and North Korea after a 30-year hiatus.
BBC News
3 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
North Korea to send thousands to help rebuild Russia's Kursk region
North Korea will send thousands of workers to help rebuild Russia's war-torn Kursk region, Moscow's security chief has said. Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu who is currently holding talks with North Korea's Kim Jong Un in its capital Pyongyang, described the deployment as "fraternal assistance", Russian state media South Korea and Japan were quick to condemn the plan, with Seoul it saying it was a violation of UN sanctions on North months concerns have swirled of deepening military collaboration between the two authoritarian states, amid reports of thousands of North Korean soldiers helping Russia fight its war on Ukraine. On Wednesday, Russia's TASS news agency quoted Shoigu as saying North Korea would send a "division of builders, two military brigades [of] 5,000 people", as well as 1,000 deminers to help with the "restoration" of the Kursk region."This is a kind of fraternal assistance from the Korean people and leader Kim Jong Un to our country," Shoigu was quoted as saying, according to an AFP report. North Korean state media also added that the meeting saw both Kim and Shoigu discuss other "long-term plans". South Korea was quick to respond, with a foreign ministry official saying they had "grave concerns" over the "continuing illegal cooperation between North Korea and Russia", local media has also expressed worries over the cooperation. "We are seriously concerned about these developments as it will worsen the Ukrainian situation and affect the regional security environment surrounding Japan," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters on November last year, Russia and North Korea signed a mutual defence treaty, saying they would help each other in the event of "aggression" against either country, with Kim saying it took their relationship to a "new high level of alliance". South Korean intelligence offficers say there are an estimated 15,000 North Koreans working in Russia under bilateral industrial cooperation programmes - a source of revenue for Pyongyang. Separately, Western officials had in January told the BBC that at least 1,000 of an estimated 11,000 North Korean troops in Russia had been killed in just three months. A Seoul lawmaker said in April that they believed there were about 4,700 North Korean casualties, including 600 have said that Pyongyang could be paid, or may be given access to Russian military technology in exchange for the North Korea and Russia confirmed the presence of the North Korean troops in April - an admission that was condemned by South Korea and the the time, Seoul described the deployment as "illegal", saying that it was in violation of the UN Charter and the UN Security Council top Russian and North Korean officials have maintained regular contact as the war in Ukraine continues. When Shoigu visited Pyongyang earlier this month, Kim vowed to support Russia "unconditionally", including on "the Ukrainian issue", North Korean state media in April, Russia also claimed it had regained full control of the western Kursk region - which has been denied by Ukraine.
