Zelenskyy "Putting a large number of North Korean troops into the frontline battle of Kursk"

Ukraine's President Zelenskyy says many North Korean troops have been deployed to frontline fighting in Kursk, western Russia.

In his regular address, Zelensky said many of the North Korean troops attached to Russia's integrated units had begun to be mobilized for operations to attack Ukrainian positions.

He argued that the North Korean military is currently deployed only to Kursk, but can be deployed to other fronts.

President Zelenskyy said the Russian military's mobilization of North Korean troops was a new step toward escalating tensions in the 34-month-long war and stressed that it would "fight against any threat, including the North Korean military."

As a result, the North Korean military, which only participated in small-scale sporadic fighting, appears to have been put into frontline fighting in earnest.

Earlier, Sabrina Singh, a deputy spokesman for the U.S. Department of Defense, said in a regular briefing on the 9th local time that she has not yet seen North Korean troops participate in the battle.

More than 10,000 North Korean soldiers are now reportedly deployed in Kursk.