The United States has blacklisted a network accused of aiding financial payments between Russia and North Korea, two isolated countries that have grown financially and militarily closer amid the Kremlin's war in Ukraine.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday on a network of five groups and one person, based in Russia and the Georgian region of South Ossetia, for enabling payments between Russia and North Korea, the Treasury Department said.

Ukrainian drones hit a military depot in Russia on September 18 and destroyed North Korean missiles, intercontinental ballistic missiles, and air defenses, according to reports. More than 100 Ukrainian UAVs were used to strike the missile depot in Toropets,

Top Russian security official Sergei Shoigu held talks with his Iranian counterpart in Tehran on Tuesday, Russian and Iranian media said, days after meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Unin Pyongyang.

North Korea sent its foreign minister to Russia for her second trip in less than a year to the major backer of Kim Jong Un’s regime. The move comes as Pyongyang readies for a parliamentary meeting that will likely approve measures that raise tensions with South Korea.

North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed expanding bilateral relations. Choe traveled to Russia earlier this week, according to the Russian embassy in North Korea,