Zelenskyy says 10,000 North Koreans could join Russian forces in Ukraine

Brussels: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday his government has intelligence information that 10,000 troops from North Korea are being prepared to join Russian forces fighting against his country, warning that a third nation wading into the hostilities would turn the conflict into a “world war.”

Zelenskyy did not go into detail about the claim that came a day after U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said that Washington and its allies are alarmed by North Korea’s military support for Russia’s war in Ukraine but couldn’t confirm Ukrainian claims that soldiers were sent to fight for Moscow.

“From our intelligence we’ve got information that North Korea sent tactical personnel and officers to Ukraine,” Zelenskyy told reporters at NATO headquarters.

“They are preparing on their land 10,000 soldiers, but they didn’t

move them already to Ukraine or to Russia.”

Meanwhile, South Korea’s spy agency said on Friday that North Korea has dispatched troops to support Russia’s war against Ukraine. If confirmed, the move would bring a third country into the war and intensify a standoff between North Korea and the West.

The National Intelligence Service said in a statement that Russian navy ships transferred 1,500 North Korean special operation forces to the Russian port city of

Vladivostok from October 8 to October 13. It said more North Korean troops are expected to be sent to Russia soon.