Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that intelligence shows Russia is likely to send the first group of North Korean fighters to the battlefield within days.
He posted the assessment on social media platform X while referring to a report by Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, Yonhap news agency reported.
According to intelligence, Russia is supposed to send the first North Korean soldiers to the combat zones as early as October 27–28, wrote Zelensky. "This is a clear escalation by Russia."
He urged global leaders to show "a principled and strong response" against the efforts of Russia to prolong the war against Ukraine.
"North Korea's real role in fighting should not be tolerated by such casual and ambiguous commentaries but with real pressure on Moscow and Pyongyang to uphold the charter of the UN and demand accountability from them on that escalation," he said.
South Korea and the US said North Korea has despatched approximately 3000 troops in the East Russia region with an open prospect of use in its war against Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin did not confirm nor deny the deployment but said his government takes the "comprehensive strategic partnership" treaty with North Korea seriously, which includes a mutual defence clause. It was signed in June and ratified by Russian lawmakers Thursday.
"But it will still be our sovereign decision whether we apply it or do not apply, where we apply it and how, whether we need it and whether we want to become engaged, say, merely in conducting exercises, training, and exchange of experience. This will be strictly our own business," Putin said in an interview Friday with the state-run Rossiya-1 TV channel.
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