Ukrainian public radio reported several North Korean soldiers stationed in Russia deserted their posts this week, fueling accounts that Pyongyang has deployed troops to Moscow’s ongoing war with neighboring Ukraine.

The United States has expressed growing concern over North Korea's increasing military support for Russia in its ongoing war against Ukraine. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said on Wednesday that Washington and its allies are alarmed by Pyongyang's nuclear threats and the growing evidence that North Korea is supplying materials,

Russia’s army is forming a unit of some 3,000 North Koreans, a Ukrainian military intelligence source has told the BBC, in the latest report suggesting that Pyongyang is forming a close military alliance with the Kremlin.