Ukraine has engaged militarily for the first time with North Korean troops deployed to support Russia in its ongoing war with its neighbor, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a late-night speech on Tuesday.
Zelenskyy did not go into details about the engagement, but warned of what he says is Russia's intention to escalate the war that has dragged on for nearly 1,000 days.
A kyiv official said Ukraine's military fired artillery at North Korean soldiers in the Russian border region of Kursk.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. (Thierry Monasse/Getty Images, left, and KCNA,” which is short for Korean Central News Agency, right.)
“Terrorism, unfortunately, can spread like a virus when it does not find a sufficient response. Now our response must be sufficient, strong enough. The first battles with North Korean soldiers have opened a new chapter of instability in the world,” Zelenskyy said. in his late-night video address as he thanked Ukraine's allies around the world.
“Together with the world, we must do everything possible so that this Russian step of expanding the war with a real escalation fails. For both Russia and South Korea.”
South Korea's Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that more than 10,000 North Korean troops had arrived in Russia, with a “significant number” in frontline areas, including the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces carried out a raid in August.
Defense Minister Rustem Umerov told South Korean state television that there had been a “small engagement” with North Korean troops, according to Reuters. The report, with excerpts from the interview, quotes Umerov as saying that the commitment was small and not yet systematic in terms of mobilizing soldiers.
FILE: In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, supervises artillery firing exercises in North Korea, March 7, 2024. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
Umerov reportedly said he expects five North Korean units, each consisting of about 3,000 troops, to be deployed to the Kursk area. The North Korean soldiers are mixed with Russian troops and are poorly identified on their uniforms, Umerov said, according to The Associated Press.
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Russia reportedly has 1.3 million soldiers on active duty and another 2 million in reserves. Russia is now experiencing the highest number of casualties than at any time since the war began, with about 1,200 casualties reported per day, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week. Despite the high number of troop casualties, there still appears to be no end in sight to the war. validating initial concerns that this would be a war of attrition.
Zelenskyy has been sounding the alarm that the recent deployment of North Korean troops to Russia not only spells trouble for Ukraine, but also calls into question the stability and security of Western-allied Asian nations.
“North Korea's actions are not random,” Zelenskyy said in a candid interview with South Korea's public broadcaster KBS on Thursday. “They have strategic objectives.”
“Their actions are not a coincidence: they want Russia's support in return,” he added in comments also posted on his social media account on X.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends a joint press conference with Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, in kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, September 20, 2024. (Christoph Soeder, pool photo via AP)
Zelenskyy has called on South Korea to take a larger role in the conflict and said South Korea has already committed to sending a team of specialists to Ukraine, where they will collaborate on defensive capabilities, including air defense, as Korea The North also provides Russian weapons. with artillery and missiles.
“If South Korea wants to understand the real capabilities of North Korea and its soldiers, it would benefit them to be here, to see and analyze the reality firsthand,” he said. “Consider how close North Korea is to Seoul. [25-30 miles]the range of modern artillery, not even missiles.
“Air defenses cannot counter artillery strikes. Our own cities were leveled by artillery. I hope South Korea never faces this, but preparation is critical,” Zelenskyy added.
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Soldiers march in a parade marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of North Korea in Pyongyang, North Korea, on September 9, 2018. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)
Zelenskyy also questioned China's “silence” regarding the North's recent involvement in the war.
Meanwhile, North Korea reportedly fired a barrage of short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Tuesday.
The launch came days after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversaw a flight test of the country's newest intercontinental ballistic missile, designed to reach the continental United States. In response to that launch, the United States on Sunday flew a B-1B long-range bomber in a trilateral exercise with South Korea and Japan in a show of force.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
