“Hundreds” of North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded in battles with Ukrainian armed forces units in Russia’s Kursk region, a senior US Defense Department official said Tuesday.

“Hundreds of casualties, that’s our latest estimate of North Korean casualties,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, clarifying that the count included “from minor injuries to those killed in combat.”

Earlier yesterday, the head of the Ukrainian army Oleksandr Shirsky stated that “for three days now, the enemy has been conducting intensive offensive operations in the Kursk region, actively using units of the North Korean army”, adding that the latter have already “suffered heavy losses”.

Faced with an invasion by the Russian military for the next three years, Ukraine launched a surprise attack in early August on Russia’s Kursk region — the largest on Russian territory since World War II — and still holds a small part of it.

Several thousand North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia in recent weeks to support the Russian military, Western governments have said. The Kremlin is avoiding questions on the issue, it doesn’t seem to want to confirm the information. Pyongyang has neither confirmed nor denied the unprecedented deployment of its armed forces.

The North Korean military had “never fought before,” the US Defense Department source pointed out, which may explain “why they suffered such casualties” in the battles with the Ukrainians.

Russia and North Korea recently signed a bilateral treaty providing for joint defense and it entered into force in early December, according to Russian diplomacy. Article 4 of the text speaks of “immediate military assistance” in the event of an attack by a third state.

For its part, the US has been the main military backer of Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022, and the administration of President Joe Biden, who is about to complete his term, has multiplied in recent weeks the announcements of shipments of military equipment to the armed forces forces of Kiev.

Remaining available funds of 5.6 billion. dollars, but the full amount is not expected to be spent before the Jan. 20, 2025, inauguration of Donald Trump, who has expressed skepticism about the aid, a senior US Defense Department official said on Tuesday.

The funds can, however, be carried over and be “available for the next government,” the official added.