North Korean Troops Deployed by Russia Face First Confirmed Shelling in Kursk Region

North Korean troops, deployed by Russia to the Kursk region to fight Ukrainian forces, have faced their first confirmed shelling.

This was reported by Andrii Kovalenko, Head of the Center for Countering Disinformation of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

These clashes represent the first direct involvement of a foreign military since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine commenced in 2022.

“The first military units of the DPRK  have already come under fire in Kursk,” Kovalenko, said on Telegram. A senior Ukrainian intelligence official confirmed the military engagement to the Financial Times, but refrained from disclosing additional details.

“We urge Europe to realize that the DPRK troops are now carrying out an aggressive war in Europe against a sovereign European state,” said Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha in a news conference with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock on November 4.

In his evening address on November 4, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced an increase in the number of troops from the DPRK in the Kursk region. According to him, there are currently 11,000 North Korean soldiers in the region.