US announces another $425 million in aid to Ukraine amid North Korean forces in Russia

Amid the presence of the North Korean military in Russia, the United States announced a new aid package to Ukraine worth $425 million to strengthen its military capabilities against Russia.

The US State Department issued a statement on Friday (November 1) saying the US has delivered the “significant package of urgently needed weapons” to Ukraine, including Stinger missiles, air-to-ground munitions and additional National Advanced Surface munitions to -Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) along with others.

“The Department of Defense (DoD) has announced additional security assistance to meet Ukraine’s critical security and defense needs. This announcement marks the sixty-ninth tranche of equipment that the Biden administration will deliver from DoD inventories for Ukraine since August 2021,” the official statement said. .

It further added: “This Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) package, which has an estimated value of $425 million, will provide Ukraine with additional capabilities to meet its most urgent needs, including interceptors for air defense; ammunition for rocket systems and artillery; armored vehicles; and anti-tank weapons.”

The aid announcement came after Secretary of State Antony Blinken said as many as 10,000 North Korean troops had been transferred to Russia, including 8,000 in the Kursk region.

“We now estimate that there are approximately 10,000 North Korean soldiers in Russia in total. Recent information indicates that as many as 8,000 of those North Korean forces have been deployed in the Kursk region. We have not yet seen these troops in combat against Ukrainian forces, but we expect that to happen in the coming days,” Blinken said.

He further revealed that Russia has been training North Korean forces to use them in frontline operations.

(With input from agencies)