North Korea has deployed thousands of troops to support Russian forces fighting in Ukraine, according to Ukrainian, U.S. and South Korean assessments, Pyongyang's first major involvement in a war since the 1950s.

Although North Korea state media has not reported that the nation’s soldiers are fighting against Ukraine, rumours are spreading.

Hundreds of Russian troops have been treated in North Korea for battlefield wounds sustained Ukraine's meat grinder, Russian ambassador says. But China's decision not to offer its superior hospitals f