The cash-strapped North Korean leader has sent some 10,000 troops to help in Russia’s war against Ukraine. Moscow could be giving him money and nuclear know-how.

North Korea has sent more than 10,000 troops to fight with Russia in Kursk, U.S. officials say. The troops are wearing Russian uniforms and have been equipped by Moscow, but they will probably fight in their own discrete units, U.S. defense officials said.

The Pentagon has responded to claims that North Korean troops sent to Russia to bolster Vladimir Putin’s forces are consuming online pornography as they now have less restricted internet access.

The arrival of North Korean troops in Ukraine does not bode well either for Ukraine or for its Western backers. But it might not work out all that well for Russia or North Korea either.

North Korean troops have begun engaging in combat operations alongside Russian forces, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday, expressing concern that Russia had turned to North Korea for soldiers to fight in its war with Ukraine.

Russian soldiers have been filmed giving North Korean troops battlefield training and language lessons, with some of Kim Jong-un’s men picking up swear words.

"Today I can confirm that over 10,000 (North Korean) soldiers have been sent to eastern Russia, and most of them have moved to the far western Kursk Oblast, where they have begun engaging in combat operations with Russian forces,

North Korea ratified a major defense treaty with Russia stipulating mutual military aid, the North’s state media reported Tuesday, as the U.S., South Korea and Ukraine say North Korea has sent thousands of troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine.