Ukraine: N. Korean troops arrived in Russian ‘combat zone’
Kyiv counts 12,000 North Korean troops in Russia.
Daily TribuneKyiv counts 12,000 North Korean troops in Russia.
This picture taken on Oct. 2, and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS on Oct. 4, shows troops taking part in training at a base of the Korean People's Army's special operations forces in the western region, at an undisclosed location in North Korea. North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un said his forces would use nuclear weapons "without hesitation" if Pyongyang's territory was attacked by the South and its ally the United States, state media reported on Oct. 4.
KCNA VIA KNS / AFP
KYIV (AFP) — Ukraine said Thursday that North Korean troops have arrived in the “combat zone” in Russia’s Kursk border region, where Moscow has struggled to push back Ukrainian forces for months.
North Korea — with whom Russia signed a mutual defense pact — is already widely believed to be arming Moscow for its invasion but troops on the ground would mark a new escalation in the conflict.
“The first units of the DPRK military ... have already arrived in the combat zone of the Russian-Ukrainian war,” Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence said, adding they had been “recorded” in the Kursk region on Wednesday.
Ukraine said the number of deployed North Koreans in Russia was about “12,000” troops, without specifying how many of them were in the Kursk region.
Thousands of North Korean soldiers have been sent for training in Russia, according to the United States and South Korea.
In Russia, President Vladimir Putin — who signed a mutual defense pact with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June — did not deny the reports.
“Russia never doubted that the DPRK is serious about Russian cooperation, we are in cooperation with our North Korean friends,” Putin said after hosting a summit of emerging economies.
“What we will do is our business,” he said.
The strongman leader then appeared to mock satellite images which purportedly showed North Korean troops on Russian soil.
“Images are a serious thing. If there are images they must show something.”
Putin was speaking hours after lawmakers in Russia’s lower house of parliament voted unanimously to ratify a treaty with North Korea that provides for “mutual assistance” if either party faces aggression.
The treaty is due to be fully ratified by the upper house on 6 November.
Russia claims it has taken back a string of villages from Ukrainian forces in Kursk, but has not managed to push back Ukrainians out of its territory.
Putin claimed Thursday that Moscow’s forces were “moving forward” there and that they had blocked Ukrainian “units invading the Kursk region.”
Meanwhile,United Nations (UN) chief Antonio Guterres told Putin on Thursday that his invasion of neighboring Ukraine violated the UN charter and international law, according to a readout of their meeting.
The UN secretary-general met with Putin on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, after a speech in which Guterres called for a “just peace” in Ukraine.
