Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has complained about his allies’ response to Russia’s deployment of North Korean troops for the war in Ukraine.
In an interview, Zelenskyy noted that Ukraine’s western allies have not adequately responded to the involvement of North Korean troops in Russia’s war.
According to him, Russian President Vladimir Putin is currently “testing the response of South Korea and the NATO member nations.”
“And if there is nothing – and I think that the reaction to this is nothing, it has been zero – then the number of North Korean troops on our border will be increased.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
The direct tone of Zelenskyy’s rhetoric pointed to mounting Ukrainian frustration over the extent of Western support for Kyiv at a critical time in the war with Russia, with the clock counting down to U.S. presidential election.
Zelenskyy stated that North Korean troops had not yet engaged in direct combat with Ukrainian forces but were preparing to be deployed.
Zelenskyy said he believed Putin wanted to deploy foreign troops in order to minimise casualties among Russian troops and that Russia would “station North Korean troops on the frontlines, and will sacrifice them more than Russian troops.”
Asked when that may be, he remarked, “I believe this will occur not within months, but within days.”
He suggested Putin will determine whether to expand the deployment after South Korea and the NATO member nations’ response
US Secretary of state, Antony Blinken said that about 8,000 North Korean soldiers are stationed in Russia on the border with Ukraine, warning that Moscow is preparing to deploy those troops into combat “in the coming days.”
According to Blinken, the US believed that North Korea had sent 10,000 troops to Russia in total, deploying them first to training bases in the far east before sending the vast majority to the Kursk region on the border with Ukraine.
The Pentagon and South Korea’s Defence Minister have issued a warning to Pyongyang to remove their troops from Russia, with the US warning that North Korean troops would become “legitimate military targets” if they fought against Ukraine directly.
US Secretary of Defence, Lloyd Austin, asserted that North Korean troops would be “co-belligerents, and you have every reason to believe that … they will be killed and wounded as a result of battle.”
Ukraine Iterates Call For Allies To Lift Restrictions
Once again, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called on western nations to lift restrictions on the use of long-range missiles against Russia, after North Korean troops deployed to Russia’s border region with Ukraine.
Speaking at a peace conference in Montreal, Sybiha said the North Korean troop deployment marked a “true escalation of this war,” stressing that Kyiv should be allowed to use missiles to strike Russian territory.
“We need a strong reaction. We need [a] strong decision of our allies to lift all the restrictions, to lift all the restrictions to use long-range missiles on the territory of Russia.”
Andrii Sybiha
READ ALSO: Netanyahu Says Hezbollah Ceasefire Must Guarantee Israel Security
