North Korean troops have been spotted directly supporting and assisting Russian offensive operations against Ukraine for the first time. — Ukrinform.

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un has hailed his country’s “invincible” alliance with Russia, as he marked one year since his troops deployed to fight in Moscow’s war against Ukraine with the opening of a museum honouring soldiers who died in battle.

Kim Jong-un inaugurates War Memorial Museum in Pyongyang honoring soldiers who fought in Russia’s Kursk region

Russian students from the Kursk region have sent paper boats to thank North Korean soldiers who fought for Russia in the war against Ukraine and to mourn their deaths, the North's state media reported Wednesday.

North Korea and Russia are strategic allies. The East Asian nation supplied caches of weapons as well as some 15,000 troops, according to South Korean estimates, to aid the Russian war effort against Ukraine. The Koreans mainly fought in Kursk, successfully beating back a Ukrainian invasion of the Russian border region.

Today, nearly four years into a war that Russia is still failing to win, society editors are struggling to fill their pages. The elite have become reclusive and fearful. At this year’s St Petersburg forum they were scarcely visible, venturing out of the VIP zone only for Vladimir Putin’s panel. Some have relocated to the countryside.

While Moscow framed the assistance as "centuries-old brotherhood" and praised "the close ties between our countries and peoples," the move underscores Serbia's ongoing balancing act between its EU aspirations and longstanding ties with Russia.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un unveils plans for a museum in Pyongyang honoring KPA servicemen linked to military efforts in Russia's Kursk region.