North Korea has sent some 10,000 troops to train in Russia, the Pentagon says, more than tripling the previous estimate as NATO warned of a dangerous expansion of the Ukraine war.
Russia and North Korea have boosted their political and military alliance in the course of the conflict, but the deployment of Pyongyang’s troops into combat against Kyiv’s forces would mark a significant escalation.
“We believe that the DPRK has sent around 10,000 soldiers in total to train in eastern Russia that will probably augment Russian forces near Ukraine over the next several weeks,” Deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told journalists on Monday, local time, using an abbreviation for North Korea’s official name.
“A portion of those soldiers have already moved closer to Ukraine, and we are increasingly concerned that Russia intends to use these soldiers in combat or to support combat operations against Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk Oblast,” Ms Singh said.
The figure came shortly after NATO confirmed North Korean troops have been sent to help Russia.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told reporters on Monday that the move represented “a significant escalation” in North Korea’s involvement in the conflict and marks “a dangerous expansion of Russia’s war”.
Adding thousands of North Korean soldiers to Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II will pile more pressure on Ukraine’s weary and overstretched army. It will also stoke geopolitical tensions in the Korean Peninsula and the wider Indo-Pacific region, including Japan and Australia, Western officials say.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is keen to reshape global power dynamics. He sought to build a counterbalance to Western influence with a summit of BRICS countries, including the leaders of China and India, in Russia last week.
He has sought direct help for the war from Iran, which has supplied drones, and North Korea, which has shipped large amounts of ammunition, according to Western governments.
Ukraine, whose defences are under severe Russian pressure in its eastern Donetsk region, could get more bleak news from next week’s US presidential election.
A Donald Trump victory could see key US military help dwindle.
In Moscow, the Defense Ministry announced on Monday that Russian troops have captured the Donetsk village of Tsukuryne — the latest settlement to succumb to the slow-moving Russian onslaught.
Mr Rutte spoke in Brussels after a high-level South Korean delegation, including top intelligence and military officials as well as senior diplomats, briefed the alliance’s 32 national ambassadors at NATO headquarters.
Mr Rutte said NATO is “actively consulting within the alliance, with Ukraine, and with our Indo-Pacific partners,” on developments. He said he was due to talk soon with South Korea’s president and Ukraine’s defence minister.
“We continue to monitor the situation closely,” he said. He did not take questions after the statement.
Ukraine’s top presidential official said on Monday that sanctions won’t be enough response to North Korean involvement into Russia’s war in Ukraine and called for weapons supplies.
“North Korean troops are already in the Kursk region …This is an escalation. Sanctions alone are not enough. We need weapons and a clear plan to prevent North Korea’s expanded involvement in the war in Europe,” Andriy Yermak, the president’s chief of staff, said on X. (ABC)