Kyiv announced a fresh mobilisation drive as Moscow seized the mining hub of Selydove and the US said some North Korean troops were in Russia’s Kursk region, warning that thousands more were on their way.
Russia has been making swift advances in the eastern Donetsk region for weeks and on Tuesday said it “fully” captured Selydove – whose estimated population of around 21,000 people has fled from Moscow’s drone and rocket attacks.
Concern has grown in Kyiv and the West over North Korea’s military cooperation with Russia – with neither the Kremlin nor Pyongyang denying that the reclusive country’s troops were in Russia.
The Pentagon said a “small number” of Pyongyang’s troops have been deployed in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces have held onto land since summer.
Its spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said the US had information that “a couple thousand more (North Korean troops) that are either almost there or due to arrive imminently”.