KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Moscow had started involving “a noticeable number” of North Korean troops in its efforts to drive Ukrainian troops out of Russia’s Kursk region.
Ukrainian troops began their incursion into the Kursk regionin August and still control some settlements there, part of Kyiv’s attempt to relieve pressure on its forces in eastern Ukraine, where Russia has been making steady advances.
“Today there are already preliminary data that the Russians have begun using soldiers from North Korea in the assaults – a noticeable number,” Zelenskiy said in his regular address to the nation.
“The Russians include them in consolidated units and use them in operations in the Kursk region. For now, it is only there.”
Zelenskiy said the North Korean troops’ participation in the operations in the Kursk region, which borders Ukraine, amounted to a new escalation in the nearly 34-month-old war.
Ukraine would continue to defend itself, including against the North Korean troops, Zelenskiy said.
Ukrainian and South Korean officials have previously said that more than 10,000 North Korean troops were in Russia.
Zelenskiy said Russian President Vladimir Putin was taking steps to expand and continue the war.
He issued a fresh appeal to Ukraine’s Western allies to strengthen their support for Kyiv, saying that he would discuss it with European partners next week.
Zelenskiy plans to attend a meeting with the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, NATO, and the EU in Brussels on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Olena Harmash; Editing by Gareth Jones and Conor Humphries)
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