'Several thousands' of North Korean troops set to be sent to Ukraine frontline

Several thousand soldiers are undergoing intense military training inside , according to the Institute of the Study of War (ISW). The think tank said that North Koreans will be deployed to the frontline "by the end of 2024".

The deployment of a huge foreign military could be a significant boost to the Russian offensive in Ukraine next year.

While foreign mercenaries are fighting in Ukraine, such a move would mark the first time a foreign government has sent troops in uniform to support Moscow's war.

A Ukrainian military intelligence official told the ISW that 'several thousand' North Korean infantry personnel are training within Russia. He added that the Russian military command could deploy them to the frontline in Ukraine by the end of 2024 or to Russian border areas to free up Russian 'reserves' to fight within Ukraine.

The reports come as North Korean soldiers were killed in Ukraine last week. The bodies of North Korean military forces were found among the dead after a Ukrainian missile strike on Russian-occupied territory near Donetsk last week, according to South Korean and Ukrainian officials. It was not clear if they were military engineers or other forces.

It is understood that North Korean officers and engineers, who support missile launches, are operating inside the country. However, Kyiv has not yet detected any North Korean military units or masses of troops actively fighting in Ukraine.

The ISW suggested that the North Koreans could play a key role in Russia's ongoing offensive in eastern Ukraine, as Moscow tries to seize more land.

The report read: "The extent of the North Korean force grouping that Russia could deploy to the frontline or that could free up Russian forces along the border is unclear, but these scenarios may also aid Russian efforts to commit additional manpower to priority offensive operations in Ukraine and prolong the culmination of the Russian Summer 2024 offensive operation."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday dismissed claims of Pyongyang sending military forces to fight in Ukraine as a "hoax."

Military experts claim that the North Korean deployment would help solve the manpower crisis of the Russian military, which is suffering catastrophic casualties.

The troops would also give North Korea a chance to test weapons and gain combat experience for its troops.

Lim Eul-chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, told the AFP news agency: "For North Korea, which has supplied Russia with many shells and missiles, it's crucial to learn how to handle different weapons and gain real-world combat experience. This might even be a driving factor behind sending North Korean soldiers - to provide them with diverse experiences and wartime training."

The move comes as North Korea and Russia continue to strengthen their alliance.

Earlier this year, President Putin and Kim Jong Un signed an agreement pledging that they would help each other in the event of "aggression" against either country.

On Tuesday, the North Korean leader sent a birthday message to President Putin, calling him his "closest comrade".