INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The Kremlin on Thursday dismissed a claim by Seoul that North Korean soldiers were likely to be fighting alongside Russian troops in
Ukraine."This seems like yet another fake news story," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented to journalists without
elaborating.Ukraine's Kyiv Post reported Friday that six North Korean military officers had been killed in a Ukrainian missile attack on
Russian-occupied territory near Donetsk a day earlier, citing intelligence sources.South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun told
lawmakers Tuesday that the report was probably correct."We assess that the occurrence of casualties among North Korean officers and soldiers
in Ukraine is highly likely, considering various circumstances," he said."The issue of deploying regular troops is highly likely due to the
mutual agreements that resemble a military alliance between Russia and North Korea," Kim added.The head of Ukraine's center for countering
disinformation, Lieutenant Andriy Kovalenko, wrote on Telegram Saturday that there were "small numbers of combat engineers" from North Korea
in the Donetsk region combat zone.He said they were monitoring the use of Pyongyang's ammunition, which he said Russia was increasingly
dependent upon but is of "low quality," as are North Korean missiles.Experts have long said North Korean missiles are being deployed in
years.President Vladimir Putin made a rare visit to Pyongyang in June, where he signed a mutual defense agreement with leader Kim Jong Un.
