Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine<\/p>\n
North Korea will send a \u201clarge number\u201d of engineering and construction troops to help rebuild Russian-occupied cities in eastern Ukraine, according to reports.<\/p>\n
The soldiers will arrive as early as June and take part in \u201creconstruction\u201d works largely in the heavily bombed Donetsk region, TV Chosun reported, citing a South Korean government official.<\/p>\n
The report stated that the North Korean army has 10 engineering brigades, three out of four of which will be sent to Ukraine in exchange for an annual payment of $115 million (\u00a392 million) from Russia.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe goal is to rebuild a city destroyed by fighting,\u201d said the unnamed official, without specifying further on the location.<\/p>\n
There is currently no indication the soldiers would have combat roles.<\/p>\n
Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder warned on Tuesday that North Korean troops would become \u201ccannon fodder\u201d if they joined Moscow\u2019s forces on the battlefield in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
It follows Vladimir Putin\u2019s rare state visit to Pyongyang last week to sign a new military pact with his growing ally, Kim Jong-un as the two states position themselves at the centre of an anti-West axis.<\/p>\n
North Korea is already a major weapons supplier to Moscow which is facing depleted weapons stocks and a defence industry hampered by Western sanctions.<\/p>\n
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