Ukraine warns 11K North Korean troops ready to fight alongside Russia

Concerns North Korea is gearing up to join Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reached a fever pitch Saturday, with the Ukrainian military intelligence boss warning that 11,000 of the Hermit Kingdom’s troops stationed in the Kremlin are “ready to fight.”As many as 2,600 North Korean soldiers will be deployed by Nov.1 to Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukraine holds a significant chunk of territory after a successful incursion began in August, said Chief of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov said.

“They will be ready on Nov.1,” Budanov told The War Zone, a news outlet that covers the defense industry.The North Korean troops would be using Russian equipment and ammunition, but further information is currently unknown.A video released by Ukrainian officials Saturday purportedly shows dozens of North Korean soldiers standing in line to pick up bags, clothes and other apparel from Russian servicemen.“We received this video from our own sources.

We cannot provide additional verification from the sources who provided it to us due to security concerns,” said Ihor Solovey, head of Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security.“The video clearly shows North Korean citizens being given Russian uniforms under the direction of the Russian military … For Ukraine, this video is important because it is the first video evidence that shows North Korea participating in the war on the side of Russia.Now not only with weapons and shells but also with personnel.”The involvement of North Korean troops marks is “huge” escalation of the Eastern-European conflict, France and Ukraine’s foreign ministers said at a joint press conference in Kyiv on Saturday.“It would be serious and push the conflict into a new stage, an additional escalatory stage,” France’s Jean-Noel Barrot said in Kyiv, adding that such a move would signal that Moscow was struggling in the war.Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha added: “This is a...