Zelenskiy says Russia is deploying more North Korean troops in its Kursk region

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Moscow had started involving “a noticeable number” of North Korean troops in its efforts to drive Ukrainian troops out of Russia’s Kursk region.

Ukrainian troops began their incursion into the Kursk region in August and still control some settlements there, part of Kyiv’s attempt to relieve pressure on its forces in eastern Ukraine where Russia has been making steady advances.

Zelenskiy said the North Korean troops’ participation in the operations in the Kursk region, which borders Ukraine, amounted to a new escalation in the nearly 34-month-old war.

"Today, we already have preliminary data that the Russians have begun to use North Korean soldiers in their assaults. A significant number of them," Zelenskiy told Ukrainians in his daily wartime address.

The North Koreans were being used in combined Russian units and only on the Kursk front for now, he said, adding: "We have information suggesting their use could extend to other parts of the front line."

Kyiv first said North Korean forces turned up in Russia's Kursk region in October and later reported unspecified clashes and casualties. It estimates there are 11,000 North Koreans in total, adding to a force of tens of thousands of Russians.

 

Russia has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Koreans on its side.

 

Ukraine, nearly a fifth of which is occupied by Moscow's troops, launched an incursion into Russia's western Kursk region in August, carving out an enclave that it said could be used as a bargaining chip in any talks to end the war.

Russia's airbase in the Syrian port city of Latakia has become a hive of activity since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad. A cargo plane and helicopter. 

Ukraine has battled to hold the area, although some Western military analysts have questioned the incursion's rationale, arguing it has extended an already-sprawling front line, exposing Ukraine's manpower weakness as it battles a larger foe.

 

Kyiv said the operation sought to divert Russian forces, but it has not stopped Moscow notching up its fastest gains in the east since 2022, although Russian forces have taken heavy casualties, according to Kyiv and the West.