Russia has sent about 3,000 North Korean soldiers to Kursk region, and they are located 50 kilometers from the border with Ukraine, reports the Financial Times.

Senior Ukrainian intelligence officials told the Financial Times that about 3,000 North Korean troops have been secretly transported in civilian trucks from Russia’s far east to its western Kursk region.

One official said that only a few hundred of those 3,000 were special forces, the others being regular troops. They were housed on Monday in barracks about 50km from the Ukrainian border, where they were awaiting further orders from Russian command, the officials said.

But Ukrainian intelligence officials have questioned the quality and fighting ability of the North Korean arrivals, describing the majority as inexperienced, low-ranking foot soldiers.

“They have never left their country before…They have never fought in actual combat and their experience is very far from the reality of modern warfare,” said a senior Ukrainian intelligence official.

The North Korean troops only got their first glimpse of the various types of killer drones that have become ubiquitous on the battlefield at Russian training camps “in recent weeks,” the official added.

Ukrainian officials said they believed the North Koreans could be used as “cannon fodder” by the Russians.