President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Ukraine’s allies to take decisive action against the presence of North Korean troops in Russia before they potentially engage with Ukrainian forces.
In a video posted on Telegram, Zelenskiy emphasized that North Korea had made advancements in military capability, missile deployment, and weapons production, stating, “now unfortunately they will learn modern warfare.”
He warned that “the first thousands of soldiers from North Korea are near the Ukrainian border. Ukrainians will be forced to defend themselves against them,” adding, “And the world will watch again.”
Zelenskiy claimed that Ukraine had identified every location of North Korean soldiers in Russia but noted that Kyiv’s Western allies had not provided the long-range weapons necessary to strike those positions. “But instead of such necessary long-range capability, America watches, Britain watches, Germany watches…,” he said.
He continued, “Everyone in the world who truly wants the Russian war against Ukraine not to expand…must not just watch. They must act. Words about the inadmissibility of escalation and expansion of war must be matched with actions.”
The three-minute video was interspersed with images of North Korean soldiers, missile launches, scenes from the war, and visuals of the United Nations. Zelenskiy’s message followed his recent interview with South Korea’s KBS television, in which he criticized what he called his allies’ “zero” response to Russia’s use of North Korean troops.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed on Thursday that there were 10,000 North Korean troops in Russia, with up to 8,000 in the southern Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces launched an incursion in August.
Meanwhile, North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui expressed to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday that North Korea would support Russia until it achieved victory in the Ukraine war.