That’s because one of Trump’s proposals is for Ukraine and Russia to agree to an armistice along the current front line. And the current front line threads through southern and eastern Ukraine before looping into Kursk, where a powerful Ukrainian force invaded back in August.

North Korean soldiers fighting alongside Russian troops in the Kursk region have already sustained casualties, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday.

The upper house of Russian parliament has ratified a treaty with North Korea envisioning mutual military assistance.