South Korea says North Korea preparing to send more troops, weapons to Russia

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday there are indications that North Korea is preparing to send more troops and weapons to support Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.

The additional weapons being readied include suicide drones, and North Korea has already sent 240mm rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled artillery to Russia, the JCS said in a statement.

North Korea has also sent about 12,000 troops already to Russia, according to South Korea, the United States and Ukraine.

The JCS said Monday that at least 1,100 of the North Koreans have been killed or wounded.

Ukraine’s military said Monday it shot down 47 aerial drones that Russian forces launched in attacks overnight targeting multiple areas of the country.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia used a total of 72 drones in its latest round of daily aerial assaults.

Ukrainian air defenses shot down drones over the Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, Odesa, Poltava, Sumy and Zhytomyr regions, the military said.

Khmelnytskyi Governor Serhii Tiurin said on Telegram that the drone attacks damaged a business and some homes, while injuring one person.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday it destroyed a Ukrainian aerial drone over the Bryansk region, which is located along the Russia-Ukraine border.

Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz said on Telegram there were no reports of damage or casualties from the Ukrainian attack.

Some information for this story was provided by Agence France-Presse and Reuters.