North Korea has offered to send 100,000 troops to bolster Russia's invasion effort in Ukraine, Russian state television has claimed.

The first state's offer of military aid could not be immediately verified, but it was highlighted by Russian defense expert Igor Korotchenko.

"There are reports that 100,000 North Korean volunteers are prepared to come and take part in the conflict," Korotchenko was quoted as saying on Russian Channel One, writes the New York Post, telegraph.

"If North Korea expresses its desire to fulfill its international duty to fight against Ukrainian fascism, we should allow it," Korotchenko said.

Apparently, the NYP estimates, no consideration has been given to what constitutes a "volunteer" force in an authoritarian state such as North Korea.

In return, Mirror.co.uk points out, the struggling state would receive grain and electricity.

The claim of North Korean aid comes as several "satellite states of Russia" are providing so-called "volunteer" forces, a sign that some Western intelligence analysts have taken as an indication that Vladimir Putin lacks the political capital to order a mass mobilization within Russia.

Even just last month, UK spymaster Richard Moore said he believed Russia's "warfare assets" were "about to run out".

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