Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov has confirmed that Ukrainian and North Korean troops have confronted each other for the first time.

The defense chief made the remarks Monday local time during an interview with KBS, saying there has been a “small-scale” engagement. 

When asked if this can officially be considered the beginning of North Korea’s participation in the war, Umerov said yes.

But the minister said North Korean soldiers are mixed with Russian troops and misidentified as Buryats, so an identity verification process is necessary before Ukraine can announce the exact numbers of casualties and prisoners. 
 
Umerov said he expects that five units, each consisting of about three-thousand soldiers, will be deployed to the northeast, east and southeast on a front spanning approximately 15-hundred kilometers.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said about eleven-thousand North Korean troops were in the Kursk region as of Monday, while the defense chief said that number is likely to increase to about 15-thousand.