Kyiv doesn't rule out North Korean participation in Russia's assault on Sumy, Kharkiv oblasts
The warning follows a statement from Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, who said on April 9 that Moscow's spring offensive "has actually already begun."
Cherniak said more than 11,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia's Kursk Oblast, which borders both the Sumy and Kharkiv oblasts. Roughly 5,000 have already been killed or injured, but 6,000 remain in the region and are likely to be used in new assaults.
"Unfortunately, we can talk about the evolution, about the successful training of the North Korean military," Cherniak told NHK last week, noting that Pyongyang's forces have adopted Russian tactics of using drones and electronic warfare systems.
According to the intelligence spokesperson, North Korean troops operate in small assault groups and do not require ongoing coordination with Russian commanders.
They are instructed to "reach this or that frontier," after which they move forward independently, Cherniak explained. He added that the soldiers do not constantly communicate with the Russian side.
Cherniak warned that their battlefield experience will be transferred back to North Korea and shared with other units, reinforcing Pyongyang's capabilities and contributing to instability in the Asia-Pacific region.
Ukraine has repeatedly accused North Korea of supporting Russia's invasion. Kyiv said Pyongyang deployed troops to Kursk last year to reinforce Moscow's lines during a cross-border offensive by Ukrainian forces.
Cherniak's comments come amid reports of other foreign fighters aiding Moscow. President Volodymyr Zelensky said on April 11 that "several hundred" Chinese nationals are also fighting in Russian ranks. Two were captured in Donetsk Oblast earlier this month.
Beijing has denied any direct involvement in the war, saying it has always appealed to its citizens to avoid armed conflicts.
Read also: North Korea earns over $20 billion aiding Russia's war effort, report says
We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
44 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Russia Dangles Discounts to Keep Indian Oil Trade Alive
Russia and India are looking for ways to continue trading oil, and Russia has offered what it calls a special mechanism to the India side to ensure this—despite U.S. President Trump's threat to impose an additional tariff of 25% on Indian exports if the country keeps buying Russian oil. The news about a special mechanism broke earlier this week, with Reuters citing Russian diplomats from the embassy in New Delhi as talking about it but without providing any details. 'I want to highlight that despite the political situation, we can predict that the same level of oil import [by India],' Reuters quoted Roman Babushkin, the Russian charge d'affaires at the New Delhi embassy, as saying. Indian refiners earlier this month began shunning Russian crude on the spot market, after President Trump said India had to stop buying crude oil from Russia. India did not respond well to the threat, with the government essentially saying it would keep doing what was best for India, regardless of the U.S. agenda, even as refiners began contracting U.S. and Middle Eastern oil cargoes. However, the shunning of Russian oil was short-lived, and Indian oil importers soon resumed purchases, taking advantage of a deeper discount for Russia's flagship Urals blend, since Chinese refiners have been unable to absorb all additional volumes freed by their Indian counterparts' temporary turn away from Urals on the spot mechanism that Russia is now offering India perhaps includes an additional discount, to stimulate demand, the Reuters report suggested, as it cited Russian Trade Deputy Commissioner Evgeny Griva as saying that India's imports of Russian oil were a good bargain for the buyers, with discounts at between 5% and 7%. Meanwhile, Trump's trade adviser Peter Navarro earlier this week lashed out at India for buying Russian oil, calling the trade 'opportunistic and deeply corrosive of the world's efforts to isolate Putin's war economy' in an op-ed for the Financial Times. India has become the second-biggest buyer of Russian crude since 2022, and Russia has gone from a minor oil supplier to the subcontinent into its top supplier, thanks to those discounts. With India's dependence on imported oil still over 85% of demand, every discount matters, and refiners have saved quite a lot of money with Russian purchases. If Indian buyers stop importing Russian oil, the country's total import bill could swell by $9 billion this fiscal year, the State Bank of India calculated recently, and this will further increase by $11 billion over the next fiscal year. Interestingly, one energy analyst recalled that it was the U.S. administration that encouraged Indian oil buyers to switch to Russian crude in the first place, to avoid a global price shock after sanctions kicked in back in 2022. 'Joe Biden went to India after the invasion of Ukraine and begged them to take Russian oil, the Indians hardly imported any Russian oil, and they begged India, 'please take the oil,' so that crude prices would remain low, and they did. Now we're flipping around and saying, 'why are you taking all this oil,'' the president of Rapidan Energy Group, Bob McNally, told CNBC recently in what was a timely reminder of the literal global nature of oil markets and prices. President Trump also has zero interest in a price shock, which would be the most likely result of a sudden halt in Indian purchases of Russian crude, with some 1.7 million bpd in trade disrupted. It seems, however, that it may not come to that, after all, if Russia and India find a way to continue trading without fear of punishment from the U.S. with that new mechanism. By Irina Slav for More Top Reads From this article on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Saskatchewan premier to go to China in bid to end canola tariffs
By David Ljunggren and Ed White OTTAWA (Reuters) -Scott Moe, premier of the major grain-growing Canadian province of Saskatchewan, said on Thursday he will travel to China soon for talks to persuade Beijing to drop new tariffs on canola. China hit Canadian canola seed imports with preliminary 75.8% duties last week following an anti-dumping investigation, escalating a year-long trade dispute. China is by far Canada's biggest canola seed market. Canadian Federal Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald also pledged support for farmers and the industry, which says it employs 200,000 people and produces C$43 billion in economic value. "We're working diligently alongside them," MacDonald said in a phone interview after the meeting ended. Canada, the world's largest exporter of canola, shipped almost C$5 billion ($3.63 billion) of canola products to China in 2024, about 80% of which was seed. The steep duties on canola seed, if they remain in place, would likely all but end those Chinese imports. China objected when Canada imposed 100% tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles a year ago, and launched an anti-dumping investigation into canola seed shortly thereafter. In February, it imposed a tariff on Canadian canola oil and meal, as well as a number of other agricultural products. This month's addition of canola seed to China's tariff targets came shortly after Canada imposed tariffs on steel in July, which also upset Beijing. "Myself will be in China in the next couple of weeks with potentially another opportunity for engagement before the end of the calendar year," Moe told a news conference after a meeting with industry officials and MacDonald. Moe also reiterated a call for federal aid for the industry. MacDonald said it was too early to decide what help farmers might need, but "it could be there some day" if the dispute drags on. He added that it was difficult to assess all of China's motives in the dispute. "You're dealing with a partner that you're not 100% sure all of the time what their prerogatives are. Are they just political, or is it something else?" MacDonald said. ($1 = 1.3905 Canadian dollars) Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Taiwan to massively hike 2026 defence budget as US presses spending increase
By Yimou Lee, Ben Blanchard and Jeanny Kao TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan plans to boost defence spending by a fifth next year, surpassing 3% of gross domestic product, as it invests billions more in new equipment to better face down China and convince the United States it takes seriously calls to bolster its military. The move comes as China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has ramped up military and political pressure over the past five years to assert its claims, which Taipei strongly rejects. But Taiwan also faces calls from Washington to spend more on its own defence, mirroring pressure from the United States on Europe. This month, President Lai Ching-te said he wanted to boost defence spending to more than 3% of GDP next year. Taiwan Premier Cho Jung-tai told reporters that 2026 defence spending would reach T$949.5 billion ($31.27 billion). At 3.32% of GDP, the figure crosses a threshold of 3% for the first time since 2009, government figures showed. "This is another concrete demonstration to the world and to our people of our determination and ability to safeguard national sovereignty and security, maintain stability and security in the Indo-Pacific region, and fulfil our shared responsibilities to the world," Cho said on Thursday. Taiwan was following the "NATO model" to include spending on the coast guard and veterans in total defence expenditure, he added. That represents a rise of 22.9% over this year, Hsieh Chi-hsien, head of the defence ministry's comptroller bureau, told reporters. The plans included several special defence budget proposals totalling T$117.6 billion, for new fighter jets and boosting naval defences among others, which had been widely expected from the defence ministry in the coming parliament session this year. Taiwan was including spending for the coast guard in its total defence budget for the first time, two senior officials briefed on the matter separately told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. "They are standing on the frontline," said one, referring to the coast guard, which figures in regular stand-offs with China's coast guard and would, in time of war, be pressed into the navy's effort to defend Taiwan. "Facing new types of threat, including grey-zone tactics, it is necessary to include the coast guard in defence spending," the official said, referring to Chinese pressure tactics such as regular coast guard patrols near Taiwan's islands. Taiwan's government has made military modernisation a key policy platform and has repeatedly pledged to spend more on its defences given the rising threat from China, including developing made-in-Taiwan submarines. China's air force flies almost daily missions into the skies near Taiwan, and holds periodic war games, the last in April. China is also rapidly modernising its armed forces, with new aircraft carriers, stealth fighter jets and missiles. In March China unveiled a rise of 7.2% in this year's defence spending, to 1.78 trillion yuan ($248.17 billion), outpacing its 2025 economic growth target of about 5%. ($1=30.3650 Taiwan dollars) ($1=7.1724 Chinese yuan) Play Farm Merge Valley
