Zelensky confirms deadly clashes with North Korean troops as Putin says he’s willing to talk with Trump

CNN — North Korean troops deployed to Russia’s Kursk region have fought Kyiv’s forces on the battlefield, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday, adding that the clashes resulted in fatalities. On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin made his first public comments on the US election, saying he is ready for dialogue with the Republican president-elect and noted that Trump’s comments on ending Russia’s war in Ukraine “deserve attention at the very least.” “We’re ready,” the Russian leader said when asked whether he would hold talks with Trump, while addressing a discussion forum in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi. Trump has not elaborated on how he would quickly end the war, but former CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty said it “essentially would freeze everything in place.” “Which means that the Russians would be holding the Ukrainian territory that they have, that they’ve won, and then they would somehow come to territorial concessions,” including Ukraine likely giving up Donbas and Crimea, according to Dougherty, adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies. The Ukrainian president said from Budapest Thursday that world leaders are not listening hard enough to his pleas to allow Kyiv to use long-range weapons as it faces a “new wave of escalation” involving “the army of another state in the war against Ukraine.” Video Ad Feedback Russian soldiers heard complaining about North Korean soldiers in intercepted audio 01:14 - Source: CNN To counter Ukraine’s surprise Kursk offensive – the first ground invasion of Russia by a foreign power since World War II – Putin has bolstered his military’s manpower with North Korean forces, according to the US, South Korea and Ukraine.