Zelenskyy claims North Korean troops could reach Ukrainian front line by Sunday

UKRAINIAN MILITARY INTELLIGENCE has warned that North Korean soldiers in Russia could join the front line of the invasion of Ukraine as early as Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.

South Korea this month has been raising the alarm over intel it obtained, and later passed onto Kyiv, that soldiers from the Democratic Republic of Korea (DPRK) were fighting alongside Russian troops in Ukraine.

While the reports have yet to be officially confirmed, Ukrainian military intelligence, Nato and the US have all said that there is evidence of DPRK troops from arriving in Russia following a mutual defence pact signed by both countries earlier this year.

In a statement, posted to X this afternoon, Zelenskyy said he had recieved updates from the Commander-In-Chief of the Ukrainian Defence Forces Alexander Syrskyi about the movements of soldiers along the front line.

Zelenskyy said that international leaders cannot be complacent over the presence of North Korean soldiers in Russia and must pressure Moscow and Pyongyang to uphold the charters of the UN that outlaw the use of foreign soldiers in invasions.

Yesterday, the EU joined the United States and Nato with expressing its alarm to reports over the presence of DPRK troops in Russia.

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European foreign affairs commissioner Josep Borrell detailed that EU leaders would consider appropriate responses, including sanctions.

Ukrainian military intelligence service officials believe that North Korean soldiers have already entered ‘combat zones’ and have documented sightings of troops in the Russian Kursk region, which was taken over by Ukrainian troops during their most-recent offensive.

While stopping short of confirming boots on the ground, a North Korean official said any troop deployment to Russia would be in line with international law.

It is already widely believed that the DPRK is arming Moscow in some way. Troops on the ground would make it a new escalation in the conflict, however. 

Today, Zelenskyy said the military chief gave positive signals about the operations of troops in Kursk, with the President adding “we are fulfilling our objectives”. He said Ukraine would maintain the territory to create a “buffer zone” between it and Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday did not deny the reports but mocked images which appear to show North Korean troops on Russian soil. He said images are a “serious thing” and “must show something”.

In an interview with the BBC on Wednesday, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko - who is not recognised as the official president internationally and is one of Russia’s last-remaining allies – said the claims about the DPRK were “rubbish”.

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