KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy claimed Friday that North Korean troops will be deployed by Russia to Ukrainian battlefields as early as this weekend.
Western officials have warned that if North Korean troops join the fight, it would spark a nearly three-year war and have geopolitical implications far into the Indo-Pacific region.
The possibility has alarmed leaders and deepened diplomatic tensions.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Friday that senior national security advisers from the United States, Japan and South Korea will meet to discuss North Korea’s plans for possible use with Russia on the battlefield against Ukraine. He said he had “expressed serious concerns” about sending troops.
Mr. Kirby said the three countries' national security advisers were “confronting Russia and North Korea with these actions that serve only to extend the security impact of Russia’s brutal and illegal war beyond Europe and into the Indo-Pacific.” I ask them to stop their actions.”
“There may be more than 3,000 troops from North Korea currently being sent to Russia for equipment and training,” Kirby said in a phone call with reporters.
Kirby said the U.S. government does not have a firm intelligence assessment of where the troops will go, but that it is “certainly possible” and “probably possible” that some North Korean troops could be deployed to Russia’s Kursk region. I believe that.” Ukraine has held some of the territory since seizing it in August. However, he cautioned that it is unclear what capabilities North Korea’s military will have and for what purposes.
A senior official in Ukraine’s presidential administration told The Associated Press on Friday that President Zelensky canceled a visit by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to Kiev.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, said the visit was scheduled to follow this week’s summit in the Russian city of Kazan, a member of the BRICS emerging economies group, which Mr. Guterres attended. Ta.
A photo of Guterres shaking hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit sparked a backlash in Ukraine.
Zelenskiy said in a Telegram post that Ukrainian intelligence determined that between Sunday and Monday “the first North Korean troops will be used by Russia in a combat zone.”
He said on Telegram that the deployment was “a clear escalatory move by Russia.” Details such as where the North Korean soldiers were sent were not disclosed.
Russia has been conducting a ferocious summer campaign along Ukraine’s eastern front, gradually forcing Kiev to surrender land. But Russia is struggling to dislodge Ukrainian forces from the Kursk border region following the invasion about three months ago.
According to Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate, known by the acronym GUR, North Korean troops were spotted in Kursk on Wednesday.
GUR said in a statement late Thursday that the soldiers had undergone several weeks of training at a base in eastern Russia and were equipped with clothing for the coming winter.
The number of North Korean soldiers sent to Russia by North Korea is estimated at about 12,000, including about 500 officers and three generals.
GUR provided no evidence for its claims.
Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans said on social platform X on Friday that according to intelligence reports, North Korean soldiers “will probably be deployed to Kursk first.”
The deployment of North Korean troops under a military agreement between Moscow and North Korea has brought a new dimension to the conflict. The conflict was the largest war in Europe since World War II and claimed tens of thousands of lives on both sides, including many civilians.
The United States said on Wednesday that 3,000 North Korean troops were being sent to Russia for training in several locations, calling the move very serious.
President Zelenskiy said a week ago that his government had received intelligence that 10,000 North Korean troops were ready to join Russian forces fighting the country. He said the conflict would turn into a “world war” if a third country intervened in hostilities.
North Korea is already supplying ammunition to Russia under a defense agreement, but most Western countries support Kiev, potentially seriously complicating a war that fuels international politics.
Meanwhile, President Putin is seeking support among the BRICS countries.
He neither confirmed nor denied that North Korean troops are stationed in Russia.
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Mike Corder of The Hague and Josh Bourque of Washington contributed.
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Follow AP coverage of the Ukraine war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine