North Korea pledges support to Russia 'until victory' in Ukraine

North Korea’s foreign minister Friday pledged to support Russia “until it achieves victory” in its war against Ukraine, during a visit to Moscow as some 8,000 North Korean troops are reportedly poised to join Russian troops on the battlefield.

Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui held talks with her Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. As cameras rolled after their meeting, each praised the new levels that the relationship between the two nations has reached.

The North Korean top diplomat accused the United States and South Korea of a military build-up and war provocations, and praised Russia’s efforts to put an end to “hegemonic practices of the U.S. and the West and to establish a new international order.”

She said the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has unwavering faith that Russia will achieve victory and said her country will stand with them until that victory is achieved.

Lavrov expressed Russia’s gratitude for its Korean friends and for their “principled” position regarding “the events that have now unfolded in Ukraine,” and praised the “very close contacts” that “have been established between the military of the two countries.”

Neither diplomat made any direct reference to North Korean troops being deployed in the region.

Speaking Friday in Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during a joint briefing with his South Korean counterpart it is believed at least 10,000 North Korean troops are set to be deployed to the region, with about 8,000 of them already in Russia’s Kursk oblast.

At the same news conference, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. expects North Korean troops to enter the war against Ukraine in the coming days.

More than a half-million Russian troops have been killed or wounded in Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale illegal invasion on February 24, 2022, U.S. officials said, adding that Russia is now turning to pariah state North Korea to bolster its forces.

In an interview with Estonia’s public broadcaster ERR Friday, Estonian Defense Forces intelligence chief Colonel Ants Kiviselg said he thinks North Korean troops are likely to suffer heavy losses, potentially even more than the Russians. He said they are not familiar with or trained for combat in the region’s terrain, climate or geography.

Also Friday, the U.S. Defense Department, or DOD, announced an additional $425 million in security assistance for Ukraine. It is the 69th tranche of equipment to be provided from DOD inventories for Ukraine since August of 2021.

In a statement, the department said the defense package will provide Ukraine with assets to help the country meet some of its most urgent security needs, including air defense interceptors, munitions for rocket systems and artillery, armored vehicles and anti-tank weapons.

The statement said the United States will continue to work together with some 50 allies and partners through the Ukraine Defense Contact Group and its associated capability coalitions to meet Ukraine's urgently needed battlefield requirements and defend against Russian aggression.

Meanwhile, Kyiv’s military reported Friday that Russia launched 2,023 drone attacks on Ukraine in October, the most since the war began. The report said that the total is nearly 700 higher than the number of attacks launched in September, the month with the previous record for drone attacks.

The report said Russia has launched 6,987 since the beginning of 2024.

Earlier Friday, Russia's Defense Ministry reported its defenses shot down 83 Ukrainian drones over six regions early on Friday.

In a statement posted to its Telegram social media channel, the ministry said, “36 drones were shot down over the Kursk region, 20 over the Bryansk region, 12 over Crimea, eight over the Voronezh region, four over the Oryol region, and three over the Belgorod region."

Separately, Aleksandr Bogomaz, the governor of Bryansk, said one person was wounded when a Ukrainian drone crashed into an apartment building in the city of Bryansk.

In the Stavropol region, a drone fell on an oil depot in the city of Svetlograd, regional Governor Vladimir Vladimirov said on Telegram.

In Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa, a Russian missile struck a fire station, wounding two firefighters, regional Governor Oleh Kiper reported.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's air force said its defenses shot down 31 Russian drones and one missile over nine regions — Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Cherkasy, Vinnytsya, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Sumy, Chernihiv and Poltava.

Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse.