NATO confirms that North Korea has sent troops to join Russia’s war in Ukraine
Associated PressNov 04, 2024
Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday condemned allies for what he described as giving "zero" response to North Korea's sending of troops to Russia.
In an interview with South Korea's KBS television channel, Zelenskyy said that Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin "is checking the reaction of the West" to the move. He added: "And I believe that after all these reactions, Putin will decide and increase the contingent ... The reaction that is there today is nothing, it is zero."
There is no evidence of North Korean troops fighting inside Ukraine at this stage, but earlier in the week, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said that Washington was "concerned that Russia intends to use these soldiers in combat or to support combat operations against Ukrainian forces in Kursk" — a Russian region invaded by Ukraine in August.
Putin is watching the reaction of the West to this major escalation of the conflict by involving North Korean troops — and so far, there has been none. As a result, we can be confident that Putin will only increase this contingent as time moves on.
The US remains concerned about North Korean troop deployments near Ukraine's borders and will remain in close contact with Ukraine to ensure that this threat is responded to accordingly. Should North Koreans become belligerents in the war, there will be nothing to stop Ukraine attacking them with US weapons.