Russian officials confirmed for the first time publicly that North Korean soldiers have been fighting alongside them in the war in Ukraine, as U.S. President Donald Trump shows his patience is running thin with Russia on peace talks in Ukraine.
North Korean soldiers had been captured by Ukrainian forces earlier this year, with the captured soldiers unwilling to defect from North Korea despite offers from Ukraine. Russian and North Korean officials had been mum on whether those soldiers had been fighting in Ukraine.
In a report to Russian President Vladimir Putin from Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, published by Russian state media, the use of North Korean soldiers was disclosed.
“I want specially to note the participation of servicemen of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” Gerasimov said in the statement, which claimed they had repelled Ukrainian forces out of the Kursk region.
The statement comes the same day Trump talked with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Vatican City, in what were described as positive talks. Trump also expressed his frustration with Putin, after earlier this week calling on him to stop attacks after a deadly attack on Kyiv.