SEOUL, Nov 5 – Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov has confirmed his country’s military has engaged for the first time with North Korean troops, South Korea’s public broadcaster KBS reported Tuesday, according to Kyodo news.
Umerov told KBS in an interview on Monday local time that a “small-scale” engagement had taken place, without detailing when and where the fighting took place. He said it could be officially considered the beginning of North Korea’s participation in Russia’s war against Ukraine, according to the report.
But the fighting was not a systematically organized level of engagement with all forces mobilized, Umerov said.
The defense minister added he expects five North Korean units, each with approximately 3,000 soldiers, to be deployed in the northeast, east, and southeast locations on a 1,500-kilometer-long frontline.
