Zelensky says North Koreans fighting alongside Russians in Ukraine

KYIV – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Oct 13 that defence relationships with his country’s partners would have to change in the light of North Korean transfers of people as well as weapons to Russian forces in Ukraine.

The Kremlin on Oct 10 dismissed South Korean assertions that North Korea may have sent some military personnel to help Russia against Ukraine and might be weighing a bigger deployment.

“We see that the alliance between Russia and such regimes as the North Korean one is getting stronger,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address. “This is not just about the transfer of weapons, this is in fact about the transfer of people from North Korea to the armed forces of the occupiers.”

“It is obvious that under such conditions, our relationship with our partners needs to evolve,” he added. “The front line needs more support. We are talking about more long-range capabilities for Ukraine and more sustained supplies for our forces, rather than a simple list of military hardware.”

South Korea’s Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun said on Oct 8 that “there was a high possibility” North Korea could deploy troops to help Russia in the war with Ukraine.

Mr Kim also told a parliamentary hearing that news reports of North Korean military officers

having been killed in a Ukrainian strike

on territory controlled by Russian forces were likely true.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, asked on Oct 10 if North Korea was sending its troops to fight in Ukraine, told reporters: “This looks like another bit of fake news.” REUTERS