Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Sunday evening of North Korea’s growing involvement in Russia’s war effort against his country, now not only with arms deliveries but also with military personnel.
“We are seeing a growing alliance between Russia and regimes like North Korea. It’s not just about the transfer of weapons. “This is the transfer of personnel from North Korea to the army of the occupying forces,” Zelensky added without giving further details in his speech to the nation. The Ukrainian leader called on his allies to “act now” to counter the contribution of Moscow’s partners to Russia’s military potential.
The president’s warning comes after Ukrainian intelligence sources assured this month that Kyiv Post that six North Korean army officers were killed on October 3 during a Ukrainian missile attack on Russian-occupied territory in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun said last Tuesday that it was “very likely” that Pyongyang would send troops to support the Russian military given the agreements it signed with Moscow. In addition, Kim said that reports of the death of North Korean soldiers in the vicinity of the city of Donetsk, capital of the region of the same name annexed by Russia, following a Ukrainian attack, could be true .
Moscow has called reports of sending North Korean soldiers to support Russian troops in the war in Ukraine a “hoax”. “This looks like a new hoax,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday during his daily telephone press conference, in response to a question about the North Korean military’s participation in the war.
He Washington Post Last Friday, a Ukrainian military intelligence source quoted a Ukrainian military intelligence source as saying that “several thousand” North Korean infantrymen are currently receiving training in Russia and could be deployed to the front lines in Ukraine more late this year, while asserting that there are already North Korean officers on the ground. in Russian-occupied Ukraine to observe Russian forces and study the battlefield, but notes that kyiv has yet to see any North Korean units in combat. Tutor He also said North Korean military engineers had been deployed to help Russia target Ukraine with ballistic missiles. According to a Ukrainian source cited by British media, dozens of North Koreans are behind Russian lines, in teams which “provide support for the KN-23 missile launch systems”.
“South Korean and Ukrainian officials recently reported that North Korean military personnel were likely operating in the occupied Donetsk region, and that a recent Ukrainian missile attack near the occupied city of Donetsk reportedly killed several North Korean military officers “, he recently wrote. think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW), based in Washington. “It is unclear how large a buildup of North Korean forces Russia could deploy to the front line or which could unleash Russian forces along the border, but these scenarios could also contribute to Russian efforts aimed at deploying more troops in priority offensive operations. » in Ukraine and extend the completion of the Russian offensive operation in the summer of 2024. North Korean troop deployments in Ukraine could also create opportunities for exploitation by Ukraine, depending on the quality, force structure, deployment and interoperability of North Korean forces.
Seoul and Washington say that since last year, Pyongyang has supplied Moscow with all types of weapons for use in Ukraine, and that open-source intelligence has located remnants of North Korean missiles and artillery used against Ukrainian targets.
The strong rapprochement between North Korea and Russia was reflected in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Pyongyang last June, the first in 25 years. During this trip, the two countries signed a strategic partnership agreement that strengthens military cooperation at the bilateral level. The Russian president thanked the North Korean dictator for his “unwavering support” for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
