War in Ukraine: use of North Korean soldiers shows Putin's “dismay”, according to NATO

Westerners have proof of this. Russia deploys North Korean troops near the Ukrainian border in Russia's Kursk region. “I can confirm that North Korean troops have been sent to Russia and that North Korean military units have been deployed in the Kursk region,” Mark Rutte said on Monday. According to the NATO Secretary General, this is a “significant escalation” and a “dangerous expansion” of the war.

But this use of North Korean troops “is also a sign of the growing disarray” of Vladimir Putin, “unable to continue his assault against Ukraine without foreign support,” he believes.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that North Korean soldiers would begin fighting with the Russians from Sunday in the Russian border region of Kursk, raising fears of a new escalation in the war.

Ukraine has been giving ground in the east of the country for months, facing Russian troops that are already more numerous and better armed, despite heavy losses. Russia also claimed this Monday the capture of a new village in eastern Ukraine, southeast of Pokrovsk. It is this city, of 60,000 inhabitants before the conflict, that the Russian forces are targeting: it represents a key logistical crossroads for the Ukrainian army and is home to the only mine under Ukrainian control producing coke, a coal necessary for the manufacture of steel.

Volodymyr Zelensky called on Westerners to “punish” the Russia North Korea duo. The two countries have grown significantly closer over the past two years, with Pyongyang being accused of supplying ammunition to the Russian army.

North Korea, for its part, assured that any deployment of its troops in Russia would be “in accordance” with international law, without confirming or denying the presence of its soldiers, already denounced by the United States and South Korea in recent days. .