A Russian military delegation led by the defense deputy minister landed in North Korea on Wednesday, according to DPRK state media, after Seoul assessed that Pyongyang appears to be gearing up for additional troop deployments to the war in Ukraine.

The party daily Rodong Sinmun reported on the arrival of Army General Viktor Goremykin, the deputy defense minister who also oversees the Main Military-Political Directorate of the country’s armed forces, in a brief readout on Thursday.

DPRK Lt. Gen. Pak Yong Il, deputy chief of the Korean People’s Army’s General Political Bureau, greeted the Russian military officials at Pyongyang’s Sunan