North Korean troops in Ukraine gain battlefield experience, cementing alliance with Russia
Voice of America
FILE - Soldiers wearing face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus rally in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Oct. 12, 2020. FILE - In this image from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Oct. 17, 2024, a Russian soldier fires a gun toward a Ukrainian position in the Russian-Ukrainian border area in the Kursk region, Russia.
For weeks, Ukrainian troops braced for an unfamiliar enemy: North Korean soldiers sent to bolster Moscow's forces after Ukraine launched a lightning-fast incursion and seized territory in Russia's Kursk region over the summer.
FILE - Sacks of ammonium perchlorate, a chemical commonly used to make missile fuel, are found on a fishing vessel intercepted by US naval forces in the Gulf of Oman in November 2022.
This file comes from the website of the President of the Russian Federation and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. (www.kremlin.ru)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping poses for photos with military personnel of the Chinese People's Liberation Army garrison stationed in the Macao Special Administrative Region in southern China, Dec. 20, 2024. (Li Gang/Xinhua via AP)
Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, right, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, center, and Canada's Foreign Minister Melanie Joly attend the G7 foreign ministers meeting in Charlevoix, Quebec, March 13, 2025. Ministers representing, from left, Japan, Britain, France, Canada, U.S. Germany and Italy post for a photo during the G7 foreign ministers meeting in Charlevoix, Quebec, March 13, 2025.
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Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa signs the country's constitutional declaration, which will be enforced throughout a five-year transitional period, at the presidential palace in Damascus, March 13, 2025.
Rohingya refugees gather to collect relief materials from a distribution point in the Kutupalong Refugee Camp in Ukhia in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district on March 6, 2025. FILE - United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks with the media in Brussels, March 21, 2024. FILE - A Rohingya boy carries a relief supply package with the USAID logo on it, at a refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, Feb. 11, 2025.
Bottles Champagne are for sale at a wine dealer shop in Ville d'Avray, outside Paris, France, as President Donald Trump threatened a 200% tariff on European wine, Champagne and spirits if the European Union goes forward with a planned tariff on American whiskey, March 13, 2025.
Steve Witkoff, White House special envoy, center, speaks with reporters at the White House in Washington, March 6, 2025. The White House said Witkoff will head to Moscow to discuss a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
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A woman places a candle at the statue of late Pope John Paul II at the Gemelli Hospital, where Pope Francis is being treated for pneumonia, in Rome, March 12, 2025.