Thousands of North Korean soldiers are now positioned near Ukraine's border and likely to enter combat in the coming days, the US says.Russian troops have been training them in artillery, drones and "basic infantry operations,

Nearly 10,000 North Korean troops have arrived in Russia near Ukraine ’s border, sparking concern that they may soon join Moscow’s war effort. US secretary of state Antony Blinken confirmed the deployment on Thursday, adding that these troops have been trained in artillery and drone operations and basic infantry tactics.

Ukraine’s defense minister says Ukrainian troops have engaged for the first time with North Korean units that were recently deployed to help Russia in the war with its neighbor

Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with a sophisticated combination of missiles and drones for the first time in 73 days on Wednesday, authorities reported, as the Pentagon said most of the North Korean troops sent to help Moscow’s war effort are fighting to drive Ukraine’s army off Russian soil in the Kursk border region.

The recently signed mutual defense treaty could be used to justify thewidening of the war in Ukraine, as the U.S. says North Korean and Russian troops are already battling Ukrainian forces.

North Korean soldiers, who were previously sent to Russia, are now in Kursk Oblast and are "already engaging in combat" operations against Ukraine. Source: Yonhap, citing South Korea's spy agency Details: The intelligence service reported that "North Korean soldiers dispatched to Russia have moved to Kursk Oblast over the past two weeks and their deployment to battlefields has been completed".

The deployment of around 10,000 North Korean troops in Russia's border Kursk region is convincing the Pentagon to see the conflict in a wider context