Zelensky: Allies are “watching” the arrival of North Korean troops

KYIV, Ukraine — President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on Ukraine’s allies to stop “watching” and take action before North Korean troops stationed in Russia take to the battlefield, and the country’s army commander warned that his forces face “one of the most powerful offensives yet.” from Moscow since the total war began more than two years ago.

Zelensky raised the prospect of a preemptive Ukrainian strike on camps where North Korean troops are training, and said Kyiv knows their location. But he said Ukraine could not do so without allies’ permission to use Western long-range weapons to hit targets deep inside Russia.

“But instead… America is watching, Britain is watching, Germany is watching. Everyone is just waiting for the North Korean military to start attacking Ukrainians as well,” Zelensky wrote in a message late Friday on the Telegram app.

The Biden administration said Thursday that about 8,000 North Korean troops are now in Russia’s Kursk region near the border with Ukraine and are preparing to help the Kremlin fight Ukrainian forces in the coming days.

On Saturday, Ukrainian military intelligence said more than 7,000 North Koreans equipped with Russian equipment and weapons had been transported to areas near Ukraine. The agency, known by its acronym GUR, said North Korean troops were training in five locations in Russia’s Far East. He did not specify the source of information.

North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Song Hui met with her Russian counterpart in Moscow on Friday.

Escalation, says Putin

Ukrainian leaders have repeatedly said they need permission to use Western weapons to strike weapons depots, airfields and military bases far from the border to encourage Russia to pursue peace. In response, U.S. defense officials said the number of missiles was limited and that Ukraine was already using its own long-range drones to hit targets further away in Russia.

Moscow has also consistently made it clear that it would view any such strikes as a serious escalation. President Vladimir Putin warned on September 12 that Russia would be “at war” with the US and NATO countries if they approved them.

General hints of losses

Zelensky’s call came shortly before Ukraine’s top commander, General Oleksandr Syrsky, said on Saturday that his troops were struggling to stop “one of the most powerful offensives” by Russia since its all-out invasion of its southern neighbor in February 2022.

In a Telegram post after a conversation with a senior Czech military official, Syrsky hinted that Ukrainian units were suffering heavy losses in battles, which he said “require constant replenishment of resources.”

For months, Russia waged a brutal campaign on the eastern front in Ukraine, gradually forcing Kyiv to surrender its position. But Moscow has been struggling to push Ukrainian troops out of the border Kursk region since the invasion nearly three months ago.

Russian missiles struck Kharkov, Ukraine’s second-largest city, between Friday and Saturday, killing a police officer and wounding dozens, local governor Oleg Sinegubov said.