BRUSSELS (AP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Thursday that his government has intelligence that 10,000 troops from North Korea are ready to join Russian forces fighting the country. He warned that the conflict would turn into a “conflict” if a third country entered into hostilities. world war. ”
President Zelensky said U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said Washington and its allies were alarmed by North Korea’s military support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, but could not confirm Ukraine’s claims that soldiers had been sent. He did not go into detail about the allegations he made the next day. To fight for Moscow.
“We have received information from our intelligence that North Korea has sent tactical personnel and officers to Ukraine,” Zelensky told reporters at NATO headquarters. “They have prepared 10,000 soldiers on their own soil, but they have not yet transferred them to Ukraine or Russia.”
He previously warned that North Korea’s involvement would be “the first step towards a world war.”
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte (left) speaks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during the NATO-Ukraine Council Working Dinner at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, October 17, 2024. (Olivier Matisse, pool photo, via AP)
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte (left) speaks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during the NATO-Ukraine Council Working Dinner at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, October 17, 2024. (Olivier Matisse, pool photo, via AP)
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte (left) speaks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during the NATO-Ukraine Council Working Dinner at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, October 17, 2024. (Olivier Matisse, pool photo, via AP)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the allies had “no evidence that North Korean soldiers are involved in the fighting.” However, we do know that North Korea assists Russia in a variety of ways, including with arms supplies, technology supplies, and innovations, to support Russia’s war effort. And that’s very worrying. ”
The Ukrainian leader’s comments come as he meets with European Union leaders and later NATO defense ministers in Brussels to discuss a “winning plan” to end the country’s devastating war with Russia, and risks to Western allies. I raised it.
Highlights of the plan include inviting Ukraine to join NATO and authorizing the use of Western-supplied long-range missiles to strike military targets deep in Russia, but so far Kiev’s allies is showing a negative reaction.
“Ukraine truly deserves to one day become the 33rd member of NATO, and we must do everything to ensure that happens,” Zelenskyy said in an appeal at the alliance’s headquarters. “Ukrainians have shown that we can defend our common values and we are standing up to the greatest threat to European and world peace – Russia.”
He told EU leaders that if his plan is implemented, “we can end this war by next year at the latest.” Zelensky told reporters the plan was aimed at “strengthening Ukraine” and paving the way for a diplomatic solution to end the conflict in Europe’s east.
“This plan does not depend on the will of Russia, but only on the will of our partners,” he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy looks through documents during the NATO-Ukraine Council Working Dinner at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, October 17, 2024. (Olivier Matisse, pool photo, via AP)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks during a press conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, October 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte (right) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy participate in a press conference during the NATO Defense Ministers’ Meeting at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, October 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
In a statement after their meeting with Zelensky, EU leaders called for a “rapid increase in military support and an acceleration of the provision of air defense systems, ammunition and missiles, in particular” to protect Ukraine’s population and energy infrastructure.
“Russia must not win,” the statement said.
The EU is a major supporter of Ukraine, a candidate for membership in the 27-nation bloc fighting Russian aggression that began more than two-and-a-half years ago.
President Zelensky outlined a five-point plan to Ukraine’s parliament on Wednesday, but did not reveal any secrets that had been presented privately to key allies, including the United States.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is widely seen as having the best relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin among EU leaders, called Zelenskiy’s plan “more than horrifying” in a Facebook post. ” he called. He said he called on the EU’s main powers France and Germany to “start negotiations with Russia as soon as possible to find a way out of this situation.”
Prime Minister Rutte said Kyiv can “absolutely rest assured that our 32 allies are united in the fact that we will stand together and do whatever it takes to ensure that Ukraine wins and that President Putin does not have his way.” spoke. He reiterated Ukraine’s status as a member of NATO, but did not say when it would join.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte (right) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy participate in a press conference during the NATO Defense Ministers’ Meeting at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, October 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
European Council President Charles Michel (second from right) and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (centre, of Ukraine) arrive for a group photo during the EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, October 17, 2024. Speaking next to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy (bottom left) (AP Photo/Gert Vanden Wyngart)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks with journalists during a press conference at the EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, October 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
President Zelensky told EU leaders that his troops must continue to fight Russian forces in Ukraine, and at the same time “so that the Russians can feel what war is like and start hating Putin.” “We also need to bring the war back to Russia.”
Zelenskiy said it was necessary to “move some partners forward” on the issue. “And I think it is only with the unity of the EU that we can move, and not just the EU leaders, but other leaders as well.”
Thursday’s talks in Brussels came as Ukraine’s military struggles to hold off better-equipped Russian forces and is increasingly cornered, particularly in the eastern region of Donetsk. Kiev is surviving with Western aid, but Ukraine insists it is too little too late.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda criticized the West’s slow decision-making on Ukraine, saying: “It would be a big mistake to think that our hesitation is the best way to de-escalate tensions.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy (left) and European Council President Charles Michel arrive at the EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, October 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy (left) and European Council President Charles Michel speak with journalists as they arrive at the EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, October 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy (left) and European Council President Charles Michel arrive at the EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, October 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
At a summit in Washington in July, 32 NATO members declared Ukraine on an “irreversible” path to membership.
But for now, NATO is in a maintenance pattern. Its largest and most powerful member state, the United States, is facing a presidential election. European allies expect little movement on Ukraine until a new president takes office in January.
Additionally, the United States and Europe’s leading power, Germany, remain deeply concerned about becoming drawn into a broader war with nuclear-armed Russia and are among the first countries opposed to admitting Ukraine to NATO until the conflict is over. standing in
___
Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands. Associated Press writer Gail Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.
___
For more AP coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine.