Zelensky Says Another Ten Thousand North Koreans Are Being Prepared
More than eight thousand North Korean troops are already on Russian territory and a further ten thousand are being selected for training and deployment, the Ukrainian president said, citing new military intelligence. Kyiv was struck again overnight, a fifth consecutive day of attacks on the capital. Ukraine’s longer-term estimate of the eventual total runs to fifty thousand.
The claim rests entirely on Ukrainian military intelligence relayed by the president, with no third-party verification, which is worth saying plainly. What is better established is the cumulative picture: somewhere between fourteen and fifteen thousand North Korean soldiers deployed since 2024, mostly into Kursk, alongside millions of artillery and mortar rounds, ballistic missiles, long-range guns and rocket launchers. The diplomatic complication is that Seoul and Kyiv are currently at odds, after Mr Zelensky disclosed the transfer of two captured North Korean soldiers to South Korea, whose July aid package was worth $100m and excluded lethal weapons. And the three-way technical talks Washington proposed still have no date, five days after Kyiv said it was waiting for one. Watch whether Seoul says anything.