30 N KOREAN TROOPS KILLED IN RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

This is the first reported casualties since the Pentagon and Ukraine announced North Korea has sent about 10,000 troops to Russia to help it in the almost three-year war.

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Ukraine's military intelligence agency claimed Monday that around 30 North Korean troops were killed or wounded in fighting against the Ukrainian army at the weekend in Russia's Kursk border region.

This is the first reported casualties since the Pentagon and Ukraine announced North Korea has sent about 10,000 troops to Russia to help it in the almost 3-year war.

The casualties occurred around three villages in Kursk, where Russia has for four months been trying to quash a Ukrainian incursion, the agency, known by its acronym GUR, said in a public post on the Telegram messaging app.

At least three North Korean servicemen went missing around another Kursk village, GUR said.

It was not possible to independently verify the Ukrainian claims. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov referred related questions to the Russian Defense Ministry, which didn't immediately comment.