Zelenskyy claims N.Korean troops joined Russia, pushing war beyond borders

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that the thousands of North Korean soldiers expected to reinforce Russian troops on the front line in Ukraine are pushing the almost three-year war beyond the borders of the warring parties.

Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that he spoke to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and told him that 3,000 North Korean soldiers are already at military bases close to the Ukrainian front line and that he expects that deployment to increase to 12,000.

At the Pentagon on Tuesday, spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said a "relatively small number" of North Korean troops are now in Russia's Kursk region, where Russian troops have been struggling to push back a Ukrainian incursion, and a couple thousand more are heading in that direction.

South Korea, which has been in close contact with NATO, the US and the European Union about the latest developments, warned last week that it could send arms to Ukraine in retaliation for the North's involvement.

"There is only one conclusion — this war is internationalised and goes beyond the borders of Ukraine and Russia", Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.

The Ukrainian president also said he and Yoon agreed to step up their countries' cooperation and exchange more intelligence, as well as develop concrete responses to Pyongyang's involvement.

Surge of arms deliveries

In Washington, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met on Tuesday with Zelenskyy's top adviser to discuss the North Korean troops as well as a coming surge of weaponry that the US is delivering to Kiev to help the Ukrainians harden protection of their energy infrastructure, according to White House officials familiar with their private talks.

Sullivan and Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president's office, shared concerns that North Korean troops could be deployed to Russia's Kursk region and what such a development could mean for the conflict.

The officials, who were not authorised to comment publicly, said during the two-hour meeting at the White House, Sullivan also briefed Yermak on President Joe Biden's plans to push additional artillery systems, ammunition, hundreds of armoured vehicles and more to Ukraine before he leaves office in January.

Sullivan told Yermak that by year's end, the US administration plans to provide Ukraine with 500 additional Patriot and ARAAM missiles to help bolster air defences, according to the officials.

Tensions on all fronts

Meanwhile, North Korea said its top diplomat is visiting Russia in another sign of their deepening relationship.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years, with North Korea continuing a run of weapons tests and South Korea and the US expanding their military drills.

Russian drones, missiles and bombs hit Kiev and Kharkiv, Ukraine's biggest cities, in nighttime attacks, killing four people and wounding 15 in a continuing aerial strikes, authorities said on Tuesday.

Russia has bombarded different areas of Ukraine almost daily since its full-scale war of its neighbour, causing thousands of casualties.

The Russian army is also pushing hard against front-line defences in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Tuesday that Russian troops captured the Donetsk town of Hirnyk and the villages of Katerynivka and Bohoiavlenka.