North Korean troop deployment to Russia was an initiative from Pyongyang, not the Kremlin. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin quickly endorsed it, according to The New York Times. The agency notes that when North Korean troops began arriving in Russia this fall,

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that more than 3,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded in Russia's Kursk region and warned that Pyongyang could send more personnel and equipment for Moscow's army.

North Korean troops have now entered Russia’s war with Ukraine in a major way, and some have been killed, Western officials say.

The assessment of drone vulnerability differs from an on-the-ground testimony obtained by the Kyiv Independent, in which a Special Forces serviceman disclosed how North Korean troops were well-protected by Russia’s electronic warfare,

While some Western officials initially viewed the arrival of North Korean soldiers in Russia as evidence of the Kremlin’s desperation, U.S. agencies now reportedly believe the idea was North Korea’s initiative,

U.S. intelligence agencies believe that North Korea's troop deployment to Russia was Pyongyang's idea, The New York Times (NYT) reported Monday, although some Western officials thought Moscow had turned to the reclusive regime in a desperate need for military manpower amid its war in