Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday lashed out at his Western backers on Thursday over what he said was inaction over the reports of North Korean troops being sent to Russia.
“Putin is checking the reaction of the West … And I believe that after all these reactions, Putin will decide and increase the contingent … The reaction that is there today is nothing, it is zero,” Zelensky said in an interview with South Korean media.
Also on Thursday, the Biden administration claimed there are about 8,000 North Korean troops in Russia near the Ukrainian border. The US expects the troops to join the fighting in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, where Ukrainian forces control a small piece of territory and are being slowly pushed out by Russian troops.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US has “not yet seen these troops deploy into combat against Ukrainian forces, but we would expect that to happen in the coming days.”
Russian officials have not confirmed that North Korean troops are in its territory but have not been denying it and point to the military agreement Moscow and Pyongyang signed earlier this year when asked about the issue. The deal included a mutual defense clause.
On Wednesday, Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s envoy to the UN, said North Korea had the right to help Russia in its war since the West is supporting Ukraine. “Even if everything that’s being said about the cooperation between Russia and North Korea by our Western colleagues is true, why is it that the United States and allies are trying to impose on everyone the flawed logic that they have the right to help the Zelensky regime … and Russian allies have no right to do a similar thing,” he said.
North Korea previously denied sending troops to Russia but recently said that if the rumors were true, it would be a lawful deployment. “If there is such a thing that the world media is talking about, I think it will be an act conforming with the regulations of international law,” North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jong Gyu said on October 25.
Zelensky and hawks in the US are calling for major escalations in response to the North Korean deployment. The Ukrainian leader has been hyping the threat to push his so-called “victory plan,” which calls for the US and NATO to support long-range strikes inside Russia, which risks nuclear war.
Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, has said if North Korean soldiers attack Ukraine from Russian territory, the US should support long-range strikes inside Russian territory using NATO missiles, an escalation Russian President Vladimir Putin has made clear would risk nuclear war. Turner also said that if North Korean troops enter Ukraine to fight, the US should consider “direct military action.”
