Ukraine has confirmed that their troops have engaged in contact with North Korean forces and will “take part in combat operations.”
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said in an interview with KBS said the clash is the official start of North Korean troops in the war against Ukraine, but for now the fighting is not systemic, RBC-Ukraine reports.
Umerov said, “We are recording contacts with North Korean forces, but we believe that there will be more clashes in a few weeks, and we will analyse and consider them accordingly.”
The front is some 1,500 Km and North Korea has sent five battalions, each one has around 3,000 soldiers, in the Kursk region of Russia there could be up to 15,000 troops in total.
Umerov added, “The timeline for the Russian exercises was a month, but now it has been reduced to a few days or a week so that North Korean troops can take part in combat operations.
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The head of the counter-disinformation branch of Ukraine’s Security Council, Andrii Kovalenko, wrote on Telegram, “The first North Korean troops have already been shelled, in the Kursk region.”
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Monday that North Korean forces “have made their way to Kursk” and fighting is expected in the coming days.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked the West to support them in a “pre-emptive” strike against North Korean soldiers who are based inside Russia.
President Zelensky is seeking Western support to use NATO missiles to attack North Korean soldiers before this attack his forces.
The Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said last week that the North Korean soldiers are “legitimate military targets,” and as a result President Zelensky is once again asking to use the long-range missiles and these attacks must be permitted inside Russia.
Zelensky said, “Everyone is just waiting for the North Korean military to start attacking Ukrainians.
“We see every site where Russia is accumulating these soldiers from North Korea on its territory.
“We could strike pre-emptively if we had this opportunity.”
“Russia intends to use these troops against Ukraine,” Austin said. “That would make them legitimate military targets.”
Foreign Minister of Ukraine Andriy Sybiha has called on the West to take firm and decisive steps in response to Pyongyang’s troops entering Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine.
Frustration in Ukraine is naturally growing and Kyiv has called on the West to stop fearing an “escalation” from Moscow and to not “hesitate” in allowing them to neutralise the threat before the DPRK kill Ukrainians.
During a joint press conference with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Kyiv on Monday, Sybiha said, “We call on Europe to realize that North Korean troops are now waging a war of aggression in Europe against a sovereign European state.
“This proves once again that while the West fears escalation and hesitates, Russia acts and escalates.”
