On Wednesday, Russia's TASS news agency quoted Shoigu as saying North Korea would send a "division of builders, two military brigades [of] 5,000 people", as well as 1,000 deminers to help with the "restoration" of the Kursk region.

North Korea will send military builders and sappers to help restore Russia's Kursk region after Ukraine's incursion, Moscow's security chief said, in a fresh sign of deepening ties between the two countries.

North Korea will send thousands of military construction workers and sappers to Russia's Kursk region to help rebuild it after a Ukrainian incursion that North Korean troops helped Moscow repel this year,