The head of a Lithuania-based non governmental organization says North Korean troops have already been deployed for combat and some have been killed in clashes with Ukrainian forces. 

Jonas Ohman, head of Blue/Yellow, a group that has been helping Ukrainian troops since 2014, told the local media outlet LRT on Monday that the first clashes between Ukrainian forces and North Korean troops took place in the Kyiv-controlled Kursk region in Russia on Friday.

Ohman said all but one of the North Korean soldiers were killed in one battle, and that the one who survived had papers showing he was a Buryat. 

Buryats are members of an ethnic minority from the Republic of Buryatia, a federal subject of Russia near Mongolia, and there is speculation that the North Korean soldiers were issued fake documents identifying them as Buryats.

The Blue/Yellow chief also said there were signs that North Korea is being prepared to play a role in the war against Ukraine, with the first indication coming six months ago, when North Koreans were training with Belarusian units in Belarus.

Ohman added that the first North Korean was killed in Ukraine a couple of months ago by a drone provided by Blue/Yellow.