Kiev, Ukraine – Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital Kiev on Wednesday for the first time in 73 days with a sophisticated combination of missiles and drones, authorities said, as the Pentagon said most North Korean troops had been sent to help Moscow’s war effort fought to expel the Ukrainian army from Russian territory in the Kursk border area. The South Korean spy agency also said this North Korean troops were ‘in combat’ in the Kursk region, hours after the US military shared its assessment of growing Russian-North Korean cooperation.

Airstrike warnings sounded for hours as Russia attacked eight regions of Ukraine, firing six ballistic and cruise missiles and 90 drones, the Ukrainian air force said. Air defenses downed four missiles and 37 drones, and another 47 drones were stopped by electronic jamming, the statement said.

The damage was estimated.

The airstrike came as most of the more than 10,000 North Korean troops sent by Pyongyang to help Moscow in the war were engaged in fighting in Kursk, where a Ukrainian army raid three months ago managed to destroy to gain control of a large area of ​​land, which has embarrassed the population. Kremlin.

The Russian military has been training North Korean soldiers in artillery, drone skills and basic infantry operations, including trench clearance, Pentagon deputy spokesman Vedant Patel told a briefing on Tuesday. According to the Pentagon, the partnership faces challenges, including how to achieve military interoperability and overcome the language barrier.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said earlier that the deployment of North Korean troops in Russia was a sign of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “growing desperation” as the all-out war he launched against Ukraine nears the end of its third year, but he also said it marked “a significant escalation” in Northern involvement Korea into the conflict, and “a dangerous extension of the Russian war.”

Officials in Kiev have said Russia has sent about 50,000 troops to Kursk in an attempt to drive out the Ukrainians.

According to the think tank Institute for the Study of War, Russia has been amassing troops for a counter-offensive in Kursk in recent months, although the timing of the operation is unknown.

Russia’s plans in Kursk and Ukraine’s efforts to thwart a Russian attack in the eastern Donetsk region coincide with political uncertainty over how the incoming US administration of newly elected President Donald Trump will approach Washington’s war policy change. U.S. military aid is critical to Ukraine, but Trump has indicated he does not want to continue giving tens of billions of dollars to Kiev.

President Biden plans to boost U.S. military support to Ukraine in the final months of his administration, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday.

The US will continue to support “whatever we do for Ukraine to ensure that it can effectively defend itself against this Russian aggression,” Blinken told reporters at NATO headquarters, ahead of planned meetings with allied envoys and Ukrainian officials.

Blinken warned that North Korea’s decision to send its troops into combat operations alongside Russian forces “requires and will receive a strong response.” He didn’t work it out.