North Korean workers could help restore destroyed infrastructure and buildings in the breakaway Ukrainian region of Luhansk, an official from the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) said Friday, as it publicized a meeting with a DPRK diplomat to discuss the issue for the first time.

The talks between Rodion Miroshnik, the LPR’s ambassador to Moscow, and North Korean Ambassador to Russia Sin Hong Chol came about two weeks after Sin reportedly confirmed Pyongyang will send workers to Russia-occupied Donetsk in eastern Ukraine after easing COVID-19 border controls.

North Korea became just the third country to formally recognizeDonetsk and Luhansk in