North Korea is sending limited numbers of military personnel to Russia-occupied Ukraine to supervise the use of DPRK weapons, a Kyiv official claimed on Tuesday, adding that some of the North Korean engineers have already been killed.

The statement by Andrii Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, came after South Korea’s defense minister said it’s “highly likely” that rumors about DPRK soldiers dying in Ukraine are true.

Multiple unverified reports about the deaths of North Korean officers in Ukraine have surfaced since last week, raising questions about whether military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang has advanced to