Ukra "Seven thousand North Korean troops deployed to the border...Armed with mortars"

More than 7,000 of the North Korean troops sent to Russia claimed that they were deployed to the Ukrainian border late last month.

"As of the last week of October, Russia has deployed more than 7,000 North Korean army soldiers from the Russian coast to near Ukraine," Ukraine's Defense Intelligence Agency said in a release released on the 2nd local time.

"Russia has provided North Korean troops with 60mm mortars, AK-12 rifles, RPK/PKM machine guns, SVD/SVF sniper rifles, Phoenix anti-tank guided missiles, and portable anti-tank grenade launchers," he said.

The North Korean military was also provided with night vision goggles, thermal cameras, spectroscopic sights, and binoculars, he said, adding that he was training at five training centers in Russia's Far East.

The Defense Intelligence Agency explained that Russian forces call North Korean soldiers "special Buryats."

Buryats are Mongolian natives living in the Russian Autonomous Republic north of Mongolia, and it has been suggested that North Korean troops dispatched to Russia have Buryat documents.