Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Wednesday told reporters that US intel has confirmed that North Korean troops are on the ground in Russia, but it’s not clear yet if they’re headed toward the front with Ukraine as had been expected by observers over the last few weeks, Reuters reports.
“There is evidence that there are DPRK troops in Russia. What exactly they are doing? Left to be seen. These are things that we need to sort out,” Austin said to a press pool while in Rome.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has cited intel indicating possibly up to 12,000 North Korean troops were being prepped to be to deployed to battlefields in his country.