Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu made yet another visit to Pyongyang this week, his second trip to the North Korean capital in just a month, and while there, he dropped major news about the allies’ evolving military cooperation over the Ukraine war.

Following a meeting with Kim Jong Un, he announced that the North Korean leader has agreed to send 1,000 combat engineers to help clear landmines in Russia’s Kursk region, along with 5,000 military construction personnel to assist in infrastructure reconstruction efforts. In his remarks, Shoigu specifically emphasized that these North Korean soldier-builders would be deployed to Kursk Oblast.