Ukraine war briefing: North Korea sending 50,000 troops to Russia – Zelenskyy
Up to 50,000 North Korean soldiers will be deployed in Russia, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said, while calling on South Korea to provide support for Ukraine’s
Up to 50,000 North Korean soldiers will be deployed in Russia, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said, while calling on South Korea to provide support for Ukraine’s air defence. It is an increase from the estimated 30,000 announced by the Ukrainian president in July. Kyiv had found some North Korean missiles in Ukraine’s territory, he said. “It is absolutely clear that North Korea will continue to build its experience in modern warfare, receive licences from Russia, and receive all kinds of military tools from them.” This month, an official at Ukraine’s military intelligence told Reuters that a North Korean missile unit has begun deploying personnel and equipment to western Russia and the unit could be equipped with 120 ballistic missiles and six launchers for strikes against Ukraine. North Korea sent an estimated 14,000 soldiers to Russia’s Kursk region in 2024, helping Moscow fight an invasion by Ukrainian forces. Thousands have been wounded or killed. North Korea has supplied Russia with millions of artillery and mortar rounds – sometimes of dangerously low quality, according to Russian milbloggers and troops – as well as ballistic missiles, long-range artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, according to Ukrainian and independent assessments. Zelenskyy continued that Ukraine “would very much like to receive support from South Korea in an area where we have a shortage”, referring to air defence systems.
“We are ready to work on the drone deal and other areas as well,” he said, adding that Ukrainian diplomats “are in contact” with Seoul to push potential deals. Ukraine is very short of high-end air defences and Russia has tried to exploit this by using more ballistic missiles, which are very hard to shoot down without interceptors like the US-owned Patriot. Seventy Atacms short-range ballistic missiles are part of a weapons package that Ukraine is poised to buy from Turkey, according to US congressional documents (pdf). The US would have to approve the resale of the American-origin weapons. The state department indicated to Congress it is prepared to give permission. Along with the M39 Atacms missiles, Turkey also plans to sell Kyiv 47,000 artillery rounds, 12 M270 multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS) and more than 2,000 cluster bombs, according to the notice from the US state department. Russian missiles struck a high-rise apartment block in the Saltivskyi district of Kharkiv, killing two people and injuring 13, said regional head Oleh Syniehubov. Zelenskyy said eight people were wounded in Odesa, where strikes damaged the power grid, the port and residential buildings. He condemned an “absolutely brutal” strike targeting energy infrastructure near a shopping centre in Pavlohrad, Dnipropetrovsk region, that wounded nine people including four children. Russia said Ukrainian drones killed five people and injured two dozen others in the Belgorod region.
The BriefWire