CNN
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North Korean troops deployed in Russia’s Kursk region have fought Kiev’s forces on the battlefield, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday, adding that the clashes resulted in fatalities.

Zelenskiy said 11,000 North Korean soldiers are in the region, where Ukraine’s three-month military incursion into Russian territory has stalled.

“Eleven thousand North Korean soldiers or soldiers of the North Korean army are currently present on the territory of the Russian Federation, on the border with Ukraine in the north of our country in the Kursk region,” Zelensky told reporters at the summit of the European Political Community in Budapest, Hungary, on Thursday.

“Some of these forces have already taken part in hostilities against the Ukrainian army. Yes, there are already losses, this is a fact.”

He did not specify which party suffered the losses.

The New York Times reported earlier this week that a number of North Korean troops had been killed in a limited battle with Russian and Ukrainian forces, citing senior U.S. and Ukrainian officials.

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The announcement of its use in combat comes as the United States and its allies consider how to respond to the escalating military partnership between Moscow and Pyongyang.

Ukraine and its NATO allies are also gauging how the re-election of newly-elected US President Donald Trump will affect the balance of the war and are bracing for the possibility of a dramatic reduction in US support two and a half years after Moscow’s invasion.

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin made his first public comments on the US election. He said he is ready for dialogue with the Republican president-elect and noted that Trump’s comments about ending Russia’s war in Ukraine “at least deserve attention.”

“We are ready,” the Russian leader said when asked whether he would hold talks with Trump, addressing a discussion forum in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Putin congratulated Trump on his election victory and praised his “courageous” behavior after an assassination attempt in July.

Putin congratulates Trump on his presidency

Trump has said he would end the war “within 24 hours” and suggested Ukraine “should have given up a little bit” to Moscow.

During his election campaign, Trump and his running mate JD Vance expressed strong doubts about continued US involvement in Kiev and made comments suggesting the US could pressure Ukraine into an uneasy truce with Russia.

Zelensky has repeatedly resisted suggestions of making concessions to Russia.

Trump has not elaborated on how he would quickly end the war, but former CNN Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty said it would “essentially freeze everything in place.”

“Which means the Russians would hold onto the Ukrainian territory that they have, that they have won, and then somehow make territorial concessions,” with Ukraine likely giving up the Donbas and Crimea, Dougherty said , adjunct professor at Georgetown. University Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies.

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Trump’s election for a second term comes at a precarious moment in the war. Ukraine is under intense pressure on the frontlines, where its army chief has warned his troops are facing “one of the most powerful Russian offensives” since the war began.

Moscow is also unleashing near-constant waves of long-range drone strikes on Ukrainian cities and firing decoy drones without nuclear warheads to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses, a Ukrainian air force spokesman said.

Zelensky warned on Monday that Moscow has increased its attacks using Iranian-made Shahed drones tenfold since last fall, and that the capital has seen only one night without a drone strike since September 1.

Ukraine’s president said Thursday from Budapest that world leaders are not listening closely enough to his pleas to allow Kiev to use long-range weapons as the country faces a “new wave of escalation” involving “the army of another state is in the war against Ukraine.” ”

Russian soldiers were heard complaining about North Korean soldiers in intercepted audio

To counter Ukraine’s surprise Kursk offensive – Russia’s first ground invasion by a foreign power since World War II – Putin has boosted his army’s manpower with North Korean troops, the US, South Korea and Ukraine said.

US officials had warned that about 10,000 North Korean troops are in the Kursk region and are expected to engage in battle against Ukraine. But Zelensky fears a bigger role for North Korean forces if his allies fail to put more pressure on Putin.

“We believe that if we do not use appropriate weapons and do not exert political pressure on the Russian Federation, the next step could be a much greater use of the North Korean contingent,” he said.