North Korea is gaining crucial military experience and equipment by sending troops to Russia, a U.S. official warned the United Nations, making the regime a growing threat to neighboring countries.

The United States warned on Wednesday that North Korea is benefiting from its troops fighting alongside Russia against Ukraine, gaining experience that makes Pyongyang "more capable of waging war against its neighbors.

Russia has endured over 700,000 casualties since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022—more than in all of Moscow’s conflicts since World War II combined, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Jan.

Pyongyang has provided Moscow with more than 10,000 soldiers, artillery, and ammunition during Russia’s war as the two sides have deepened their partnership.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that North Korean forces fighting alongside Russian troops against the Ukrainian military have sustained 4,000 casualties, both killed and wounded in action. Source: Interfax-Ukraine news agency,

Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Monday that Russia is close to sharing advanced satellite technology with North Korea, in a sign of the countries' increasingly close ties.

North Korea is “significantly benefiting” from its troops gaining battlefield experience fighting alongside Russian forces as it makes them more capable of waging war against rivals South Korea and Japan,

Pyongyang might have acquired advanced missile technology from Moscow in exchange for its involvement in the war, analysts say North Korea could raise its army's deployment to support Russia's war in Ukraine to as many as 100,