Seoul said it cannot confirm a report that North Korea plans to send an additional 30,000 soldiers to aid Russia’s fight against Ukraine on Thursday, amid conflicting assessments about the potential for a mass troop deployment.

Citing Kyiv’s intelligence and a Western intelligence officer, CNN reported on Wednesday that the DPRK soldiers will reach Russia in the coming months and reinforce the 12,000-strong contingent that already helped repel Ukrainian forces from the Kursk region earlier this year. 

The claim came as Moscow is reportedly amassingsome 111,000 troops near Pokrovsk, a key front line city in Donbas, in a sign