Ukraine's Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security published on Oct. 18 a video that purportedly shows North Korean soldiers in a Russian military camp preparing to join Moscow's war effort against Ukraine.
The footage was shared amid reports that Moscow plans to involve Pyongyang in the full-scale war against Ukraine in the coming months, with around 10,000 North Korean soldiers being prepared to join the Russian army, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ukraine's military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said that the first group of 2,600 soldiers will be deployed to Russia's Kursk Oblast, where Ukraine began a cross-border incursion in August and still holds significant swathes of territory. He said that close to 11,000 North Korean troops are in Russia and will be "ready to fight" in Ukraine by Nov. 1.
The video, published by the center that operates under Ukraine's Culture and Information Ministry, is claimed to have been filmed at the Sergeevsky military camp in Russia's Far East near North Korea. The footage shows men in military uniforms standing in line to get equipment.
The center did not specify how the video was obtained, adding that it is "no more than 72 hours old."
The Kyiv Independent could not verify these claims.
"The Euro-Atlantic community must realize the fact that the DPRK is invading Europe side by side with Russia and act without delay," Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said earlier in the day.
In the face of the threat, he urged partners to boost military aid for Kyiv, lift the ban on strikes with Western-supplied long-range weapons on targets inside Russia and shoot down Russian drones and missiles over Ukraine.
Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder said on Oct. 17 that he "can't confirm whether there are North Korean forces that have gone to Russia" but added that the U.S. would "continue to monitor" the situation.
If the reports were true, it would "demonstrate the situation that Russia finds itself in, the dire situation that it finds itself in, in terms of its forces on the battlefield."
"And so it just demonstrates the desperation in terms of identifying additional forces for their military," Ryder added.
Chris York
