Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during his evening video address, said that there is information that Russia is training two units of DPRK military personnel.
"In particular, we have information about the preparation of two units of North Korean military - maybe even two brigades of 6,000 people each. And this is a challenge. But we know how to meet this challenge. And it is important that our partners do not hide from this challenge. All partners," the Head of State said.
The President also said that everyone in the world "is equally interested in ending the war, not prolonging it," so "we must stop Russia and its allies together."
"If North Korea can interfere in the war in Europe, it means that the pressure on this regime is definitely not enough. And if Russia is still able to make this war bigger and longer, then everyone in the world who is not helping to force Russia to peace is actually helping Putin to fight. Criminals must be stopped. We expect a tough substantive response from the world. Not just in words," Zelenskyy added.
North Korea and its soldiers in the Russian army
- KyivPost, citing intelligence sources, reported that on 3 October, a missile strike by the Defence Forces on a Russian concentration near Donetsk killed 20 soldiers, six of whom were North Korean officers. Three more DPRK representatives were injured.
- Last week, a report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said that several thousand North Korean military personnel were being trained in Russia and could possibly be deployed to the front line in the future.
- Later, Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that North Korean officers were already in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine.
- According to the head of Ukrainian intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, 11,000 DPRK soldiers are currently training in Russia, some of whom will be deployed to the Kursk region.
- On 18 October, the Strategic Communications Directorate of the Armed Forces of Ukraine showed a video of North Korean soldiers receiving Russian equipment at a Russian training ground.
- On the same day, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol convened an emergency meeting over the movement of DPRK troops to Russia.
- After the meeting, South Korean intelligence confirmed that North Korea had decided to send its military to support Russia in its war against Ukraine and had already begun deploying forces. We are talking about 12,000 troops, including representatives of elite units.
- Currently, the DPRK soldiers are stationed in Ussuriysk, Khabarovsk and Blagoveshchensk, in addition to Vladivostok, where they are integrated into Russian military units. The North Koreans received Russian uniforms and fake IDs to pass them off as Russians.
- Mike Turner, chairman of the US House Intelligence Committee, sent an open letter to President Joe Biden regarding information about Russia's involvement of North Korean troops in the war in Ukraine.
- France believes that the involvement of the DPRK military in the war in Ukraine will provoke a serious escalation.
- South Korea is considering sending observers to Ukraine to monitor DPRK troops.