kyiv announced for the first time that it fought North Korean soldiers on the battlefield in Ukraine.
According to Volodymyr Zelensky, around 11,000 soldiers from North Korea are present in the Russian border region of Kursk.
“We must do everything to ensure that this Russian desire to extend the war is a failure,” added the Ukrainian president.
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War in Ukraine: a never-ending conflict
Ukraine facing North Korean soldiers. In a video intervention, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time mentioned the deployment of soldiers sent by the Kim Jong-Un regime to fight on Ukrainian soil alongside Russia. “I would like to thank everyone around the world who reacted to the deployment of North Korean soldiers in Ukraine. And who reacted not only with words, but also with actions to strengthen our military defense“, greeted the Ukrainian president in this speech.
On Tuesday, in an interview with the South Korean channel KBS and relayed by the BBC, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov also confirmed that Kiev troops had engaged in fighting.on a small scale“against North Korean soldiers. The clashes are limited”so far” has “limited contact“, assured the leader. According to Zelensky, a total of 11,000 North Korean soldiers are present in the Russian region of Kursk, bordering Ukraine. “The first battles with North Korean soldiers open a new page of instability in the world, he added. Together with the world, we must do everything to ensure that this Russian desire to extend the war fails.“
Voting on a treaty between Russia and North Korea this Wednesday
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia has moved significantly closer to North Korea. She is notably accused by supporters of the kyiv regime of supplying ballistic weapons to Moscow's troops. In recent days, the head of North Korean diplomacy, Choe Son-hui, assured during a visit to Russia that her country would continue to support the Russian offensive in Ukraine until “on victory day“.
This Wednesday, the upper house of the Russian Parliament must ratify a treaty between the two countries to validate the confirmation of this alliance. North Korea, which hopes to continue improving its nuclear arsenal, is suspected of asking in exchange for its aid for technologies that will help it strengthen its military capabilities.
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Russia: why the deployment of North Korean soldiers worries South Korea
Enough to worry South Korea, which until today had refused to provide direct aid to Ukraine, under a long-standing national policy which prevented it from supplying arms to countries at war. But Seoul has indicated that it could change its position in the coming months.
