As the continuous Russia-Ukraine fight escalates, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Russia has begun using the North Korean army in “significant numbers.” Zelenskyy stated that this is the first time the North Korean army has been used to execute attacks on Ukrainian forces that are fighting to hold on to their enclave in Russia’s Kursk area.
The verification from Zelenskyy came a day after news appeared that North Korean soldiers had reportedly annihilated 300 Ukrainian soldiers before reclaiming a Russian town. Zelenskyy stressed that the active service of North Korean troops is the latest escalation in the continuing Russia-Ukraine fight and called for a global reaction.
“Today, we already have prior data that the Russians have started to use North Korean soldiers in their attacks. A considerable number of them,”
the Ukrainian leader expressed in an evening address.
He said that North Koreans were being employed in combined Russian teams and only on the Kursk front for now.
“We have information indicating their use could extend to other parts of the front line,”
he said.
Meanwhile, Moscow has neither endorsed nor rejected the reports that it is accepting help from the North Korean armies.
Pro-Kremlin Telegram channel Romanov Light noted that North Korean soldiers attacked the Ukrainian-controlled village of Plyokhovo in Kursk “like a hurricane,” and eradicated Ukrainian forces deployed in the area. Vladimir Romanov, who supervises the channel, argued that the North’s special forces executed the operation and conflicts lasted for 2 hours.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s General Staff affirmed conflicts between Ukrainian and North Korean soldiers. Andrii Kovalenko, an official at Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, stated the North Koreans had taken casualties.
“The Russians are relying on numbers and are attempting to execute raid operations with the assistance of the Koreans when the assignment of the Koreans is to operate under the impacts of our forces and inhabit certain places,”
Kovalenko wrote on Telegram.
The Ukrainian leader requested the West to set it into a more powerful position and bridled worries of escalation by North Korea and Russia.
“In essence, Russia has pulled another nation into this fight, and to the greatest extent possible. And if this is not escalation, then what is the escalation that so many have been speaking about?”
Zelenskyy said.
