KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — American and South Korean officials said Wednesday that there’s evidence North Korea has dispatched troops to Russia in a potential escalation of the nearly 3-year-old war with Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday appeared to confirm reports that North Korea had sent thousands of troops to eastern Russia. It pointed to deeper ties between the two authoritarian regimes,

North Korea said on Friday any move to send its troops to assist Russia in its war in Ukraine would be in line with international law, although it stopped short of confirming that such a deployment had taken place.