Putin thanks North Korea for help in Kursk

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has for the first time acknowledged that North Korean soldiers took part in the fighting to recover Russian territory after Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region last year, CNN reported.

Two days after Moscow claimed to have recaptured all of Kursk, Putin said in a Monday statement: “Our Korean friends acted out of a sense of solidarity, justice and genuine comradeship.”

“We pay tribute to the heroism, high level of special training and self-sacrifice of the Korean soldiers who, shoulder to shoulder with Russian fighters, defended our homeland as their own,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Russian, Ukrainian, the US and European governments continue to debate the terms for any ceasefire and more permanent deal to end the fighting.

On Sunday, however, Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius criticized the US proposals as “a capitulation.”

Ukraine knew it might have to sacrifice some territory to reach a lasting ceasefire deal “but they will certainly not go as far – or should not go as far – as the latest proposal by the American president,” Pistorius told German public broadcaster ARD on Sunday.

“Ukraine on its own could have got a year ago already what was included in that (Trump proposal), practically through a capitulation,” he said. “I cannot discern any added value.”