Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that North Korean troops fighting for Russia may have carried out offensive actions in the part of Russia’s Kursk region occupied by the Ukrainian army.
“There is preliminary information that the Russians have begun using North Korean soldiers in assaults — in significant quantities,” Mr. Zelensky said in his daily address.
“The Russians are integrating them into combined units and using them in operations in the Kursk region. For now, just in this place. But we have information claiming that they could be used in other parts of the front,” he added.
According to him, North Korean troops are “already suffering notable losses”. He also accused Moscow of taking the war to “another stage.”
“If this is not escalation, then what is the escalation that many are talking about? “, he continued, in reference to the voices reluctant to support kyiv because they fear an escalation with Moscow.
Ukraine has warned that Russia has amassed some 50,000 troops, including several thousand North Korean troops, to regain control of areas of the Kursk region occupied by the Ukrainian army since a surprise offensive in early August.
In late November, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin estimated that some 10,000 members of the North Korean military were in Russia’s Kursk region.
“I fully expect to see them engaged in combat soon,” Mr. Austin said at the time.
Lloyd Austin then said he had “not seen any significant information” reporting North Korean soldiers “actively engaged in combat”.
At the beginning of November, Mr. Zelensky assured him that “some” North Korean soldiers had already taken part in hostilities and suffered losses in the Kursk region.
South Korean government officials and a research organization said last month that Moscow was providing fuel, anti-aircraft missiles and economic aid to Pyongyang in exchange for the troops.
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