NORTH KOREA will back Russia until it achieves victory in the Ukraine war, Pyongyang’s Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said today during talks in Moscow with her Russian counterpart.

The meeting followed an allegation by the United States that North Korea has deployed about 10,000 troops to Russia to fight Ukrainian forces.

President Joe Biden’s administration said on Thursday that some 8,000 North Korean soldiers are now in Russia’s Kursk region, near the border with Ukraine, and are preparing to help the Kremlin’s war effort in the coming days.

During today’s meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hailed ties between Moscow and Pyongyang, saying that they “have reached an unprecedented high level over the past few years.”

He proposed discussing the implementation of the strategic partnership agreement that the two nations signed earlier this year.

Ms Choe said: “We will have discussions on a series of issues regarding politics and foreign policy as well as matters that require a joint response between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation.”

She reiterated Pyongyang’s support “for the just fight of Russia’s military and people to defend their country’s sovereign rights and security interests” in Ukraine.

Moscow has neither denied nor directly confirmed the presence of North Korean troops.

Pyongyang initially denied the claims but has also defended the idea of deploying troops as being in line with international law.

Washington and its allies also have accused North Korea of providing millions of artillery shells and other equipment to Russia to support its military action in Ukraine

Meanwhile, Russia launched three missiles and 48 drones at Ukraine overnight, the latter’s air force said.

One missile and 31 drones were intercepted, 14 drones were jammed and three drones flew into the territory of Belarus.

Several civilian facilities, as well as blocks of flats and private houses in the Poltava, Cherkasy, Kiev and Odessa regions were damaged by drone debris.

The Russian military said it had intercepted and destroyed a total of 83 Ukrainian drones over four regions near the border with Ukraine and the annexed Crimean peninsula.

In the Bryansk region, a drone hit a block of flats, local authorities said.

No casualties were reported.

In the Stavropol region, a drone hit an oil depot, according to local officials.

Unconfirmed media reports said that the depot had caught fire.