The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organization of survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for its activism against nuclear weapons.
Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said the award was made as the “taboo against the use of nuclear weapons is under pressure.”
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The head of the Nobel Committee, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, shows the logo of the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2024, at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organization of survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for its activism against nuclear weapons. (Javad Parsa/NTB Scanpix via AP)
FILE - Kazumi Matsui, right, mayor of Hiroshima bows, at Hiroshima Memorial Cenotaph, at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan, Aug. 6, 2015. The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organization of survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for its activism against nuclear weapons. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
A worker of the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper hands out copies of an extra version to passersby in Tokyo, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, after Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, won the Nobel Peace Prize. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)
A worker of the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper hands out copies of an extra version to passersby in Tokyo, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, after Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, won the Nobel Peace Prize. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)
A person reads a copy of an extra version as workers of the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper hand out its copies to passersby in Tokyo, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, after Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, won the Nobel Peace Prize. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)
Toshiyuki Mimaki, president of Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, reacts as he speaks to media members in Hiroshima, western Japan, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, following Nihon Hidankyo's winning the Nobel Peace Prize. (Moe Sasaki/Kyodo News via AP)
Toshiyuki Mimaki, right, president of Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, speaks to media members in Hiroshima, Japan, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, as he reacts to Ninon Hidankyo's winning the Nobel Peace Prize. (Moe Sasaki/Kyodo News via AP)
Toshiyuki Mimaki, president of Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, reacts as he speaks to media members in Hiroshima, western Japan, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, following Nihon Hidankyo's winning the Nobel Peace Prize. (Moe Sasaki/Kyodo News via AP)
Toshiyuki Mimaki, president of Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, reacts as he speaks to media members in Hiroshima, western Japan, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, following Nihon Hidankyo's winning the Nobel Peace Prize. (Moe Sasaki/Kyodo News via AP)
Masako Kudo, an official of Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, reacts as she speaks to media members at its Tokyo office in Tokyo, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, following Ninon Hidankyo's winning the Nobel Peace Prize. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)
Toshiyuki Mimaki, president of Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, speaks to media members in Hiroshima, western Japan, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, following Nihon Hidankyo's winning the Nobel Peace Prize. (Moe Sasaki/Kyodo News via AP)
The head of the Nobel Committee, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, shows the logo of the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2024, at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organization of survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for its activism against nuclear weapons. (Javad Parsa/NTB Scanpix via AP)
In this 1945 file photo, a view of the devastation after the atom bomb was dropped, in Hiroshima, Japan. The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organization of survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for its activism against nuclear weapons. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Doves fly over the Peace Statue during a ceremony to mark the 77th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing at the Peace Park in Nagasaki, southern Japan, on Aug. 9, 2022. The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organization of survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for its activism against nuclear weapons. (Kyodo News via AP, File)
FILE - Kazumi Matsui, right, mayor of Hiroshima bows, at Hiroshima Memorial Cenotaph, at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan, Aug. 6, 2015. The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organization of survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for its activism against nuclear weapons. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
The head of the Nobel Committee, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, announces at a press conference that the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo is the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2024 at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Javad Parsa/NTB Scanpix via AP)
FILE - Smoke rises around 20,000 feet above Hiroshima, Japan, after the first atomic bomb was dropped, Aug. 6, 1945. The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organization of survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for its activism against nuclear weapons. (AP Photo, File)
The head of the Nobel Committee, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, announces at a press conference that the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo is the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2024 at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Javad Parsa/NTB Scanpix via AP)
The head of the Nobel Committee, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, announces at a press conference that the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo is the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2024 at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Javad Parsa/NTB Scanpix via AP)
The head of the Nobel Committee, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, announces at a press conference that the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo is the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2024 at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Javad Parsa/NTB Scanpix via AP)
FILE - Assistant Secretary General of Nihon Hidankyo and atomic bomb survivor Masako Wada arrives to attends a conference on nuclear disarmament, at the Vatican, Friday, Nov. 10, 2017. Ninon Hidankyo has been awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
CORRECTS NAME - Toshiyuki Mimaki, president of Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, speaks in an anti-atomic bomb meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, Aug. 4, 2022. Ninon Hidankyo has been awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. (Kyodo News via AP)
The head of the Nobel Committee, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, announces at a press conference that the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo is the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2024 at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Javad Parsa/NTB Scanpix via AP)
FILE - A close-up view of a Nobel Prize medal at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
The Nobel Peace Prize is being announced against a backdrop of conflicts around the world
The Nobel Peace Prize is being announced against a backdrop of conflicts around the world
FILE - A bust of Alfred Nobel on display following a press conference at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, on Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (Henrik Montgomery/TT News Agency via AP, File)
Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a shift in his country’s nuclear doctrine, in a move aimed at discouraging the West from allowing Ukraine to strike Russia with longer-range weapons. It appeared to significantly lower the threshold for the possible use of Russia’s nuclear arsenal.
Watne Frydnes said the Nobel committee “wishes to honor all survivors who, despite physical suffering and painful memories, have chosen to use their costly experience to cultivate hope and engagement for peace.”
Hidankyo's Hiroshima branch chairperson, Toshiyuki Mimaki, who was standing by at the city hall for the announcement, cheered and teared up when he received the news.
“Is it really true? Unbelievable!” Mimaki screamed.
Efforts to eradicate nuclear weapons have been honored before by the Nobel committee. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) won the peace prize in 2017, and in 1995 Joseph Rotblat and the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs won for “their efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics and, in the longer run, to eliminate such arms.”
Beatrice Fihn, who was the executive director of ICAN when it won the Nobel, said honoring Nihon Hidankyo was “quite emotional.”
“We are partners in this fight,” she told The Associated Press.
The survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki "know nuclear weapons the best. ... They know how it feels like, how it looks like, how it smells when your city is burning from nuclear weapons use,” she said.
This year's prize was awarded against a backdrop of devastating conflicts raging in the Middle East, Ukraine and Sudan.
“It is very clear that threats of using nuclear weapons are putting pressure on the important international norm, the taboo of using nuclear weapons,” Watne Frydnes said in response to a question on whether the rhetoric from Russia surrounding nuclear weapons in its invasion of Ukraine had influenced this year's decision.
“And therefore it is alarming to see how threats of use is also damaging this norm. To uphold an international strong taboo against the use is crucial for all of humanity,” he added.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on X that "the spectre of Hiroshima and Nagasaki still looms over humanity. This makes the advocacy of Nihon Hidankyo invaluable. This Nobel Peace Prize sends a powerful message. We have the duty to remember. And an even greater duty to protect the next generations from the horrors of nuclear war.”
The United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, killing 70,000 people, three days after its bombing of Hiroshima killed 140,000. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945, ending World War II and its nearly half-century of aggression across Asia.
Nihon Hidankyo was formed in 1956 by survivors of the attacks and victims of nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific amid demands for government support for health problems.
“The atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, also known as the hibakusha, are selfless, soul-bearing witnesses of the horrific human cost of nuclear weapons,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a congratulatory statement.
“Nuclear weapons remain a clear and present danger to humanity, once again appearing in the daily rhetoric of international relations,” he added. “It is time for world leaders to be as clear-eyed as the hibakusha, and see nuclear weapons for what they are: devices of death that offer no safety, protection, or security.”
Alfred Nobel stated in his will that the peace prize should be awarded for "the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”
Last year’s prize went to jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi for her advocacy of women’s rights and democracy, and against the death penalty. The Nobel committee said it also was a recognition of “the hundreds of thousands of people” who demonstrated against the “theocratic regime’s policies of discrimination and oppression targeting women.”
In a year of conflict, there was speculation the Norwegian Nobel Committee might opt to not award a prize at all. The prize has been withheld 19 times since 1901, including during both world wars. The last time it was not awarded was in 1972.
In the Middle East, spiraling levels of violence in the past year have killed tens of thousands of people, including women and children. The war, sparked by a raid into Israel by Hamas-led militants on Oct. 7, 2023, that left about 1,200 people dead, mostly civilians, has spilled into the wider region.
In the past week, Israel sent ground troops into Lebanon to pursue Hezbollah militants firing rockets into Israel, while Iran -– which backs both Hamas and Hezbollah -– fired ballistic missiles into Israel. Israel has yet to respond, but its defense minister vowed this week that its retaliation would be both devastating and surprising.
The war in Gaza has killed more than 42,000 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count but says more than half are women and children. In Lebanon, more than 1,400 people have been killed, with thousands more injured and around 1 million displaced since mid-September, when the Israeli military dramatically expanded its offensive against Hezbollah.
The war in Ukraine, sparked by Russia’s invasion, is heading toward its third winter with a massive loss of human life on both sides.
The U.N. has confirmed more than 11,000 Ukrainian civilian dead, but that doesn’t take into account as many as 25,000 Ukrainians believed killed during the Russian capture of the city of Mariupol or unreported deaths in occupied regions.
The Nobel prizes carry a cash award of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1 million). Unlike the other prizes that are selected and announced in Stockholm, founder Alfred Nobel decreed the peace prize be decided and awarded in Oslo by the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee.
The Nobel season ends Monday with the announcement of the winner of the economics prize, formally known as the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.
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This version corrects the name of Nihon Hidankyo’s Hiroshima branch chairperson to Toshiyuki Mimaki, not Tomoyuki Mimaki.
Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands, and Becatoros from Athens, Greece. Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo, Philipp Jenne in Vienna, Lori Hinnant in Paris and Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Poland, contributed.
A worker of the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper hands out copies of an extra version to passersby in Tokyo, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, after Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, won the Nobel Peace Prize. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)
A worker of the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper hands out copies of an extra version to passersby in Tokyo, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, after Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, won the Nobel Peace Prize. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)
A person reads a copy of an extra version as workers of the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper hand out its copies to passersby in Tokyo, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, after Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, won the Nobel Peace Prize. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)
Toshiyuki Mimaki, president of Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, reacts as he speaks to media members in Hiroshima, western Japan, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, following Nihon Hidankyo's winning the Nobel Peace Prize. (Moe Sasaki/Kyodo News via AP)
Toshiyuki Mimaki, right, president of Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, speaks to media members in Hiroshima, Japan, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, as he reacts to Ninon Hidankyo's winning the Nobel Peace Prize. (Moe Sasaki/Kyodo News via AP)
Toshiyuki Mimaki, president of Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, reacts as he speaks to media members in Hiroshima, western Japan, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, following Nihon Hidankyo's winning the Nobel Peace Prize. (Moe Sasaki/Kyodo News via AP)
Toshiyuki Mimaki, president of Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, reacts as he speaks to media members in Hiroshima, western Japan, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, following Nihon Hidankyo's winning the Nobel Peace Prize. (Moe Sasaki/Kyodo News via AP)
Masako Kudo, an official of Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, reacts as she speaks to media members at its Tokyo office in Tokyo, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, following Ninon Hidankyo's winning the Nobel Peace Prize. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)
Toshiyuki Mimaki, president of Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, speaks to media members in Hiroshima, western Japan, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, following Nihon Hidankyo's winning the Nobel Peace Prize. (Moe Sasaki/Kyodo News via AP)
The head of the Nobel Committee, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, shows the logo of the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2024, at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organization of survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for its activism against nuclear weapons. (Javad Parsa/NTB Scanpix via AP)
In this 1945 file photo, a view of the devastation after the atom bomb was dropped, in Hiroshima, Japan. The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organization of survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for its activism against nuclear weapons. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Doves fly over the Peace Statue during a ceremony to mark the 77th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing at the Peace Park in Nagasaki, southern Japan, on Aug. 9, 2022. The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organization of survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for its activism against nuclear weapons. (Kyodo News via AP, File)
FILE - Kazumi Matsui, right, mayor of Hiroshima bows, at Hiroshima Memorial Cenotaph, at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan, Aug. 6, 2015. The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organization of survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for its activism against nuclear weapons. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
The head of the Nobel Committee, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, announces at a press conference that the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo is the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2024 at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Javad Parsa/NTB Scanpix via AP)
FILE - Smoke rises around 20,000 feet above Hiroshima, Japan, after the first atomic bomb was dropped, Aug. 6, 1945. The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organization of survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for its activism against nuclear weapons. (AP Photo, File)
The head of the Nobel Committee, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, announces at a press conference that the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo is the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2024 at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Javad Parsa/NTB Scanpix via AP)
The head of the Nobel Committee, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, announces at a press conference that the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo is the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2024 at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Javad Parsa/NTB Scanpix via AP)
The head of the Nobel Committee, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, announces at a press conference that the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo is the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2024 at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Javad Parsa/NTB Scanpix via AP)
FILE - Assistant Secretary General of Nihon Hidankyo and atomic bomb survivor Masako Wada arrives to attends a conference on nuclear disarmament, at the Vatican, Friday, Nov. 10, 2017. Ninon Hidankyo has been awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
CORRECTS NAME - Toshiyuki Mimaki, president of Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, speaks in an anti-atomic bomb meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, Aug. 4, 2022. Ninon Hidankyo has been awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. (Kyodo News via AP)
The head of the Nobel Committee, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, announces at a press conference that the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo is the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2024 at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Javad Parsa/NTB Scanpix via AP)
FILE - A close-up view of a Nobel Prize medal at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
The Nobel Peace Prize is being announced against a backdrop of conflicts around the world
The Nobel Peace Prize is being announced against a backdrop of conflicts around the world
FILE - A bust of Alfred Nobel on display following a press conference at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, on Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (Henrik Montgomery/TT News Agency via AP, File)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Biden administration is determined in its final months to help ensure that Ukraine can keep fighting off Russia's full-scale invasion next year, sending it as much aid as possible so that it might hold Russian forces at bay and possess a strong hand in any potential peace negotiations, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday.
“President Biden has committed to making sure that every dollar we have at our disposal will be pushed out the door between now and Jan. 20,” when President-elect Donald Trump is due to be sworn in, Blinken said.
NATO countries must focus their efforts on “ensuring that Ukraine has the money, munitions and mobilized forces to fight effectively in 2025, or to be able to negotiate a peace from a position of strength,” Blinken said during a visit to Brussels.
The U.S. will “adapt and adjust” with the latest equipment it is sending, Blinken said, without providing details.
The almost three-year war has shown no signs of winding down.
Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with a sophisticated combination of missiles and drones for the first time in 73 days on Wednesday. That came a day after the State Department said most of the North Korean troops sent to help Moscow's war effort are fighting to drive Ukraine's army off Russian soil in the Kursk border region.
Ukraine is also straining to hold back a monthslong Russian onslaught in the eastern Donetsk region.
Political uncertainty over how a U.S. administration under Trump will change Washington’s policy on the war is a key new factor in the conflict. U.S. military aid is vital for Ukraine, but Trump has signaled that he doesn’t want to keep giving tens of billions of dollars to Kyiv.
Air raid warnings blared for hours as Russia targeted eight regions of Ukraine on Wednesday, firing six ballistic and cruise missiles and 90 drones, the Ukrainian air force said.
Air defenses downed four missiles and 37 drones, and another 47 drones were stopped by electronic jamming, the statement said. The damage was being assessed.
Meanwhile, most of the more than 10,000 North Korean troops sent by Pyongyang to help Moscow in the war are engaged in combat in Russia's Kursk border region, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters Tuesday. A Ukrainian army incursion into Kursk three months ago has succeeded in holding a broad area of land and has embarrassed the Kremlin.
Russia’s military has trained the North Korean soldiers in artillery, drone skills and basic infantry operations, including trench clearing, Patel said. The cooperation faces challenges, including how to achieve military interoperability and overcoming the language barrier, he said.
Kyiv officials say that Russia has deployed around 50,000 troops to Kursk in a bid to dislodge the Ukrainians.
Russia has in recent months been assembling forces for a counteroffensive in Kursk, according to the Institute for the Study of War think tank, though the timescale of the operation isn't known.
Cook reported from Brussels.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
This story has been corrected to show that a spokesman from the State Department, not the Pentagon, provided information about North Korean soldiers in Russia.
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, meets with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, left, in Brussels, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (Nicolas Tucat, Pool Photo via AP)
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, left, waits for the start of a meeting with United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Brussels, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (Nicolas Tucat, Pool Photo via AP)
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (Nicolas Tucat, Pool Photo via AP)
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives for a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (Nicolas Tucat, Pool Photo via AP)
In this photo taken from a video released by Russian Defense Ministry press service on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, the Russian army's multiple rocket launcher Solntsepyok fires towards Ukrainian positions in the border area of Kursk region, Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on Nov. 13, 2024, rescue workers extinguish a fire of a building destroyed by a Russian strike in Brovary, outside Kyiv, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on Nov. 13, 2024, rescue workers extinguish a fire of a building destroyed by a Russian strike in Brovary, outside Kyiv, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on Nov. 13, 2024, rescue workers clear the rubble of a building destroyed by a Russian strike in Brovary, outside Kyiv, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on Nov. 13, 2024, Rescue workers put out a fire of a building which was destroyed by a Russian strike in Brovary, outside Kyiv, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on Nov. 13, 2024, rescue workers extinguish a fire of a building destroyed by a Russian strike in Brovary, outside Kyiv, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, meets with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, left, in Brussels, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (Nicolas Tucat, Pool Photo via AP)
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, left, waits for the start of a meeting with United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Brussels, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (Nicolas Tucat, Pool Photo via AP)
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (Nicolas Tucat, Pool Photo via AP)
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives for a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (Nicolas Tucat, Pool Photo via AP)
In this photo taken from a video released by Russian Defense Ministry press service on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, the Russian army's multiple rocket launcher Solntsepyok fires towards Ukrainian positions in the border area of Kursk region, Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on Nov. 13, 2024, rescue workers extinguish a fire of a building destroyed by a Russian strike in Brovary, outside Kyiv, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on Nov. 13, 2024, rescue workers extinguish a fire of a building destroyed by a Russian strike in Brovary, outside Kyiv, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on Nov. 13, 2024, rescue workers clear the rubble of a building destroyed by a Russian strike in Brovary, outside Kyiv, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on Nov. 13, 2024, Rescue workers put out a fire of a building which was destroyed by a Russian strike in Brovary, outside Kyiv, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on Nov. 13, 2024, rescue workers extinguish a fire of a building destroyed by a Russian strike in Brovary, outside Kyiv, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)