nObOdY hAs SeEn NoRtHkOrEaNs https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/2399261/first-north-korean-troops-killed-in-russia-says-lithuanian-source https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/05/north-korea-troops-russia-ukraine-war-kim-jong-un-putin

mercenaries would be something like wagner. there are international volunteers within normal units of UAF, with normal pay and responsibilities just like any other unit. these chinese were promised unusually high salary and russian citizenship at the end of the contract. ukrainian foreign legion is entirely official, while this chinese recruitment seems to be covert or at least not very highly visibly public. ukrainian foreign legion also takes only people with former combat experience (iirc), it’s unclear so far if chinese recruited have any, probably not considering that china has stayed out of any major war or deployment since forever. these are not the same things

No https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air-sol_moyenne_portée

they always had these available