100,000 North Korean troops could be deployed to Russia, Zelensky tells EU

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100,000 North Korean troops could be deployed to Russia, Zelensky tells EU

Published: 20 Nov. 2024, 15:57

Members of the EU Parliament clap during a standing ovation prior to a video conference speech the Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (screen) in Brussels on Tuesday, on the 1,000th day of the Russian invasion. [AFP/YONHAP]

As many as 100,000 North Korean troops could be deployed to Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a speech marking 1,000 days since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

“Vladimir Putin had brought 11,000 North Korean troops to the Ukraine's borders. This contingent may grow to 100,000,” he said in a video message during a special session of the European Parliament on Tuesday.

The BBC also reported the possible deployment, citing an anonymous source.

Zelensky's remarks came as Ukraine fired U.S.-supplied long-range missiles for the first time at Russia's southwestern Bryansk region on Tuesday morning.

According to Russia’s Defense Ministry, Ukraine fired six ATACMS missiles at a facility in Bryansk. The strike came just two days after the Biden administration gave Kyiv the green light to use the longer-range American weapons against targets inside Russia.

Initially, there was speculation that the missiles would be directed at Russian and North Korean forces near Ukraine's borders in the Kursk region, but they were instead used to strike military installations. The attack resulted in no casualties or damage, the ministry said.

Ahead of the Security Council meeting, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called U.S. authorization for Ukraine's use of long-range missiles a “game changer,” adding that it will "shorten the war.”

He also noted that a new level of escalation on the part of Russia has led to the expansion of the geography of the war.

“Russia is now aligning itself with such rogue states as Iran and the DPRK. This emerging axis is in an active phase of undermining the global order. The involvement of the regular DPRK troops marks a new level of escalation and global proliferation of war,” the minister said, referring to North Korea by the acronym of its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

During his speech, the Foreign Minister showed a part of a North Korean KN-23 ballistic missile that was fired at Ukraine while also mentioning that Ukraine is aware of North Korea's desire to receive technologies for missile, nuclear, and other military programs from Russia in return.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday criticized Ukraine's use of U.S.-supplied ATACMS, calling it a clear signal that the U.S. wants to escalate the Ukraine conflict.

"The fact that ATACMS were used repeatedly in the Bryansk region overnight is, of course, a signal that they want escalation," Lavrov, speaking in Rio de Janeiro, told reporters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed a revised nuclear doctrine declaring that a conventional attack on Russia by any country that is supported by a nuclear power will be considered a joint attack on his country. Putin first announced changes in the nuclear doctrine in September, when he chaired a meeting discussing the proposed revisions, but the signing follows an apparent decision by the United States to allow Ukraine to target Russian territory with American-supplied longer-range missiles, which was first learned in published reports on the weekend.

Lavrov said he hoped Moscow's new nuclear doctrine, in which Putin lowered the threshold for a nuclear strike, would be "attentively read," hinting at a possible nuclear attack on Ukraine.

BY WOO JI-WON [[email protected]]