Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has for the first time acknowledged that North Korean soldiers took part in the fighting to recover Russian territory after Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region last year.

North Korea confirmed for the first time on Monday that it had sent troops to fight for Russia in the war in Ukraine under orders from leader Kim Jong Un.

US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held crunch war talks in the heart of the Vatican minutes before the start of the funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday, as the White House mounts an increasingly urgent push to strike a peace deal in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian president said the meeting could prove historic if it delivers the kind of peace he is hoping for, and a White House spokesman called it "very productive."

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces denied Russian President Vladimir Putin's claim over the weekend that Russian forces had fully retaken the Kursk region, where Ukraine launched an offensive last year.

Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed on Saturday what he said was the complete failure of an offensive by Ukrainian forces in Russia's Kursk region after Moscow said they had been expelled from the last village they had been holding.

Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed what he calls the complete failure of an offensive by Ukrainian forces into Russia's Kursk region. Watch in for more details!