North Korean troops are deployed in Kursk, a region of Russia partly controlled by Ukrainian troops, NATO chief Mark Rutte said on Monday, the 28th of October, confirming earlier information from Ukrainian intelligence that North Korean troops are now engaged or ready to engage with the Ukrainian army, reports Politico.
Pyongyang’s assistance on the battlefield has alarmed Western allies, and Rutte said the deployment of North Korean troops is a “dangerous expansion” of the conflict.
“I can confirm that North Korean troops have been sent to Russia and that North Korean military units are deployed in the Kursk region,” Rutte told reporters shortly after meeting a senior South Korean intelligence official.
The NATO Secretary General added that he would call South Korean President Yun Suk Yeol and Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov later Monday.
Moscow’s deployment of North Korean troops marks a “significant escalation in North Korea’s ongoing involvement in Russia’s illegal war”, a violation of UN Security Council resolutions and is a “dangerous expansion of Russia’s war”, Rutte said, adding that the troop deployment shows Russia’s weakness and is “a sign of Putin’s growing desperation”.
“More than 600 000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in Putin’s war, and he cannot sustain his war in Ukraine without foreign support,” he said. “This is because Ukrainians are fighting with courage, endurance and ingenuity.”
“NATO calls on Russia and the DPRK to stop these actions immediately,” he added.
The Kremlin and North Korea have dismissed the reports as “fake news” and “baseless rumours” respectively, although Putin has neither denied nor confirmed them.
NATO confirms North Korean troops are in Kursk to help Russia
