On Thursday, the Kremlin rejected South Korea's claims that North Korea might have dispatched military personnel to assist Russia in its conflict with Ukraine and could be considering a larger deployment. South Korea's Defense Minister, Kim Yong-hyun, had stated earlier this week that there was a "high possibility" of North Korea sending troops to support Russia in the war.

Kim also informed a parliamentary hearing that reports suggesting that North Korean military officers were killed in a Ukrainian strike on territory held by Russian forces were likely accurate.

"This looks like another bit of fake news," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked if North Korea was sending its troops to fight in Ukraine.

On Friday, Ukraine's Kyiv Post reported that six North Korean military officers were killed in a Ukrainian missile strike on Russian-occupied territory near Donetsk the previous day, citing intelligence sources.

"We assess that the occurrence of casualties among North Korean officers and soldiers in Ukraine is highly likely, considering various circumstances," he said.

"The issue of deploying regular troops is highly likely due to the mutual agreements that resemble a military alliance between Russia and North Korea," Kim added.

On Saturday, Lieutenant Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation, stated on Telegram that there were "small numbers of combat engineers" from North Korea present in the combat zone of the Donetsk region. He noted that they were monitoring the use of ammunition supplied by Pyongyang, which he claimed Russia has become increasingly reliant on, despite its "low quality," similar to that of North Korean missiles.