Zelenskiy claims N Korea provides Russia with troops
- 15 October, 10:24
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has claimed that North Korea sends military personnel to Russia to help Kremlin in its war of invasion.
“We see an increasing alliance between Russia and regimes like in North Korea. It is no longer just about transferring weapons. It is actually about the transfer of people from North Korea to the occupier’s military forces,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address on Tuesday.
In the same speech, the Ukrainian leader appealed to Western allies to help prevent the bigger war with Russia by strengthening his country’s frontlines.
“It is obvious that under such conditions our relationship with our partners needs to evolve. The front line needs more support. We are talking about more long-range capabilities for Ukraine and more sustained supplies for our forces rather than a simple list of military hardware.”
Zelenskiy’s statement follows South Korean Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun’s claims last week about “high possibility” of North Korea deploying troops to help Russia in the war with Ukraine.
Addressing the parliamentary hearing, the minister said that news reports of North Korean military officers having been killed in a Ukrainian strike on territory controlled by Russian forces were likely to be true.
Last week, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed as “fake new” the media reports of Pyongyang sending troops to Russia as telling reporters in Moscow.
Washington claims North Korea has dispatched more than 16,000 shipping containers containing munitions to Russia.
