Ukrainian troops clashed for the first time with North Korean units recently deployed to help Moscow in its war with Kiev, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said today.

Another Ukrainian official said the Ukrainian army fired artillery at North Korean soldiers in the Russian border region of Kursk.

The comments were the first official reports that Ukrainian and North Korean forces had clashed.

Ukrainian and North Korean troops engaged in "small-scale fighting" that marked the beginning of Pyongyang's direct involvement in the war in Ukraine. North Korean soldiers were mixed up with Russian soldiers and misidentified on their uniforms. That is why it is difficult to say whether there are victims from North Korea," Umerov said.

First clash between Ukrainian forces and North Korean soldiers, – #RustemUmerov

The defense minister pointed out that this encounter can be seen as the official start of #NorthKorea's involvement in the war against # Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/UrVyWpn5on

— Boris Alexander Beissner (@boris_beissner) November 5, 2024

He indicated that he expects five North Korean units, each with about 3.000 troops, to be deployed in the Kursk region.

Andriy Kovalenko, head of the counter-disinformation department at the Security Council of Ukraine, said that "the first North Korean soldiers have already been shelled in the Kursk region."

Estimates by US, South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence services say Pyongyang is sending about 12.000 North Korean troops to the front.

The Pentagon announced yesterday that at least 10.000 North Korean soldiers are in Russia near the Ukrainian border.