President Vladimir Putin of Russia expressed gratitude to North Korea on Monday for sending troops to support Russia in its conflict with Ukraine, promising to remember their sacrifices.

Putin’s remarks followed North Korea’s first-ever confirmation that it had deployed forces to fight against Ukrainian troops.

Two days prior, Russia announced it had completely regained control of the Kursk region, which Ukrainian forces had captured the previous year. Ukrainian officials refuted this claim, stating that operations were still underway in certain areas of Kursk.

In a statement, Putin commended the North Korean soldiers, saying they fought “shoulder to shoulder with Russian fighters, defended our Motherland as their own.”

“The Russian people will never forget the heroism of the DPRK special forces,” Putin stated, adding, “We will always honor the heroes who gave their lives for Russia, for our common freedom, fighting side by side with their Russian brothers in arms.”

Earlier on Monday, North Korea’s Central Military Commission announced that Kim Jong Un had dispatched troops to Russia to “annihilate and wipe out the Ukrainian neo-Nazi occupiers and liberate the Kursk area in cooperation with the Russian armed forces.” The commission noted that North Korean troops made “an important contribution” to Russia’s recapture of the border territory.

While this marked the first official confirmation of troop deployment, North Korea has consistently voiced its strong support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Intelligence officials from the U.S., South Korea, and Ukraine reported that North Korea deployed between 10,000 and 12,000 soldiers to Russia last fall, marking its first major involvement in an armed conflict since the Korean War in the early 1950s.

Putin and Kim indicated that the troop deployment was based on a mutual defense treaty signed in June 2024, which requires both nations to provide immediate military assistance if either is attacked.

The two countries, considered adversaries of the U.S., have grown significantly closer in recent years.

In addition to sending troops, North Korea has been supplying Russia with a substantial amount of conventional weaponry. South Korea and the U.S. fear that Russia might reward North Korea with military and economic aid, potentially including the transfer of advanced weapons technologies that could strengthen its nuclear weapons program.

According to Moon Seong Mook, an analyst at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy in Seoul, Kim Jong Un’s emphasis on North Korea’s role in Russia’s regaining control of the Kursk region suggests his strong desire to obtain desired resources from Russia, including sensitive military technologies and a firm security commitment.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated on Monday that Russia could provide military assistance to North Korea if necessary, in accordance with the defense treaty, as reported by Russian state media.

Neither North Korea nor Russia revealed the number of North Korean soldiers sent to Russia or the number of casualties incurred. However, last month, South Korea’s military estimated that approximately 4,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed or wounded in the Russia-Ukraine war. The South Korean military also indicated that North Korea sent about 3,000 additional troops to Russia earlier this year.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry on Monday urged North Korea to immediately withdraw its troops from Russia, arguing that North Korea’s support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine constitutes a serious threat to international security. Ministry spokesperson Koo Byoungsam also described the North’s troop deployment as “an act against humanity.”

If Russia’s recapture of Kursk is verified, it would diminish key leverage in U.S.-brokered efforts to negotiate an end to the war by exchanging Russian gains for some Russia-occupied land in Ukraine.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday he doubts Putin wants to end the war. Just a day before, Trump had said Ukraine and Russia were “very close to a deal.”

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