US says it expects North Korean troops to enter combat against Ukraine in the coming days

As many as 8,000 North Korean troops are in Russia’s Kursk region and are expected to enter combat against Ukraine in the coming days, top US officials announced Thursday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking alongside Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and their South Korean counterparts in Washington, said the troops have been trained “in artillery, UAVs, basic infantry operations, including trench clearing, indicating that they fully intend to use these forces in frontline operations.”

Although the US has not yet seen the troops engaged in the actual fighting, Blinken warned Thursday that “should these troops engage in combat or combat support operations against Ukraine, they would become legitimate military targets.”

The 8,000 North Korean troops now in Kursk represent a majority of the 10,000 the US says were deployed to Russia. The announcement of their impending use in combat comes as the US and its allies weigh how to respond to the escalating military partnership between Moscow and Pyongyang.

“We are consulting closely with our allies and partners in other countries in the region on these reckless developments and on our response,” Austin said at Thursday’s press conference. The US will announce additional military support to Ukraine “in the coming days,” Blinken said.

Ukrainian forces have held territory in Kursk since launching a surprise incursion into the Russian border region in August. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who called for South Korea to take a more active role in supporting Kyiv, warned Thursday that when the North Korean troops are deployed, “they will be pushed forward, sustaining heavy losses, as Russia tries to minimize its own troop mobilization.”

Asked if he believed Ukraine would be able to hold its territory in Kursk with the additional North Korean forces deployed to the region, Austin said the “answer is yes.”

Russian troops have suffered heavy losses throughout the more than two years of full-scale war against Ukraine. The US defense secretary noted Thursday that the number of North Korean troops sent to Kursk “pales in comparison” to the number of casualties Russia sees regularly.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday praised what he called “very close contacts” with the North Korean military and intelligence services.

“This helps to solve very important tasks for the security of our and your citizens,” Lavrov said at the start of a meeting with his North Korean counterpart Choe Son Hui.

The meeting in Moscow marked the sixth time the Russian and North Korean foreign ministers are meeting this year, according to Lavrov.

On Thursday, Blinken and Austin redoubled their calls for China to use its influence with North Korea to stem its “provocative actions.”

“We’ve had communications with China – in fact, we had a robust conversation just this week, and I think they know well the concerns that we have and the expectations that, both in word and deed, they’ll use the influence that they have to work to curb these activities,” the top US diplomat said. He added that Beijing should be concerned by the deepening cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow.

“We’re very focused on and concerned about what Russia might be doing in order to enhance the (North Korean) capacities, its military capacity – that too should be a real concern to China, because it’s profoundly destabilizing in the region,” Blinken noted.

“I’m surprised by China’s silence” on North Korea’s support for Russia, Zelensky said in an interview with South Korea’s KBS. “I can’t say that China is on our side, but as a regional security guarantor, its silence is striking.”

This story has been updated with additional developments.

CNN’s Anna Chernova and Lauren Kent contributed to this report.