Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for international pressure on the Kremlin and Pyongyang, claiming that Russia might deploy North Korean troops into combat as early as Sunday, reports RTE.
The Ukrainian leader called for “tangible pressure” to be applied to both North Korea and Russia on social media, stating that “intelligence reports indicate that Russia will use the first North Korean military in combat zones on October 27-28.”
His remarks coincide with the announcement by Ukrainian prosecutors that they have opened an inquiry into whether North Korea’s wartime assistance to Russia constituted an act of aggression, reports RTE.
According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, North Korean officials may be charged with equipping and supplying ground forces fighting against Ukraine.
“We are documenting and collecting evidence of all possible aspects of such involvement as part of the core proceeding on the crime of aggression,” the office said in a statement, reports RTE.
According to the report, the accused offence includes providing weapons to the Russian Federation, arranging for Russian military troops to get training, and North Korean forces directly taking part in hostilities.
North Korean troops trained in Russia have been stationed in the Kursk region, a Russian border region where Ukrainian forces launched a significant incursion in August, according to South Korea, Ukraine’s military intelligence service, and a number of Western nations.
The North’s force deployment has been characterised as “fake news” by the Kremlin in the past. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin did not explicitly deny the presence of North Korean forces in Russia when he was questioned about the matter yesterday, reports RTE.
At least 1,500 North Korean troops are anticipated to be sent in the near future to support Russia’s military actions against Ukraine, according to the Dutch Defence Ministry’s intelligence.
In the meanwhile, municipal officials said that Russia launched two waves of drones into Kyiv overnight as part of its 15th airstrike against the capital this month, reports RTE.
During the roughly four-hour-long strike, more than a dozen drones were shot down over the city, according to local military administrator Serhiy Popko’s Telegram post.
He said that debris had started a fire that was put out and that officials had not heard of any casualties, reports RTE.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.
