On Monday, Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said at least 30 North Korean soldiers had been killed or injured along the front line in Kursk over the weekend, in the Russian villages of Plekhovo, Vorozhba and Martynovka. The claims could not be independently verified.

This is the first reported casualties since the Pentagon and Ukraine announced North Korea has sent about 10,000 troops to Russia to help it in the almost 3-year war.

Western industrialized nations blasted North Korea's military Monday for cooperating with Russia in Ukraine, calling it a "dangerous expansion of the conflict," as Ukraine claimed dozens of DPRK troops have been killed.