Key points
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says North Korean officers have been deployed in Russian-occupied Ukraine.
- Ukraine says North Korea is preparing to send 10,000 more troops to fight on Russia’s behalf.
- Ukraine urged its allies to respond firmly by imposing further sanctions on North Korea.
Thousands of North Korean soldiers are preparing to fight on Russia’s behalf in Ukraine and some North Korean officers have already been deployed there, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The United States and other allies of Ukraine have long accused North Korea of sending weapons to Russia, and Zelensky has said in recent days that North Korean personnel are also being sent.
“We have information from our intelligence that… some North Korean army officers are already on Ukrainian territory temporarily occupied by Russian enemies. So they have joined the Russian army,” Zelensky said at a news conference in the Belgian capital Brussels.
He said he could not provide the exact number already on the ground.
“We know that about 10,000 North Korean soldiers are preparing to fight against us,” he said, describing it as: “the first step towards world war.”
North Korean troops ready to fight in Ukraine include ground forces and “other technical personnel,” Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine’s allies have yet to back Ukraine’s claim that North Korea is sending troops, although they say they are studying it.
White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said Tuesday that any involvement of North Korean troops in Ukraine, if true, would mark a significant uptick in defense relations between North Korea and Russia.
Zelensky said Russia needed to fill the mobilization gap and cover its own personnel losses.
Ukraine and its allies say hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded fighting in Ukraine, while Ukraine’s military losses – a closely guarded secret – are also high but minor.
Russian forces have advanced into eastern Ukraine in recent months.
Ukraine called on allies to respond firmly to North Korean aid to Russia, including by imposing new sanctions and further isolating North Korea.