Zelensky said the war with Russia goes “beyond borders” as North Korea joins it

President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky Thousands of North Korean soldiers expected to reinforce Russian troops on the front lines in Ukraine are pushing the nearly three-year war beyond the borders of the warring sides, said Tuesday.

Western leaders say North Korea sent about 10,000 troops to help Russia’s military campaign and warned that its participation in a European war could also disrupt relations in the Indo-Pacific region, including Japan and Australia.

NORTH KOREA AND RUSSIA SEND POLITICAL WAVES WITH MILITARY MOVEMENTS IN UKRAINE

Zelensky said he spoke with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and told him that 3,000 North Korean soldiers were already at military bases near the Ukrainian front line and that he expected their numbers to increase to 12,000.

Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Tuesday that a “relatively small number” of North Korean troops are now in Russia’s Kursk region, where Russian troops are struggling to repel a Ukrainian invasion, and a couple thousand more are heading that way.

South Korea, which is in close contact with NATO, the United States and the European Union over the latest developments, warned last week it could send weapons to Ukraine in retaliation for North Korean interference.

“There is only one conclusion: this war is internationalized and goes beyond the borders” of Ukraine and Russia,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram.

The Ukrainian president also said he and Yoon agreed to intensify their countries’ cooperation and exchange more information, as well as develop concrete responses to Pyongyang’s interference.

In Washington, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Zelensky’s top adviser on Tuesday to discuss North Korean troops as well as the coming wave of weapons the U.S. is supplying Kyiv to help the Ukrainians strengthen the defense of their energy infrastructure, according to a report White House officials are familiar with the course of their private negotiations.

Sullivan and Ukrainian presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak shared concerns about the possibility of North Korean troops being deployed in Russia’s Kursk region and what such a development might mean for the conflict.

The officials, who were not authorized to comment publicly, said that during the two-hour meeting at the White House, Sullivan also briefed Yermak on President Joe Biden’s plans to move additional artillery systems, ammunition, hundreds of armored vehicles and more to Ukraine before he heads to Ukraine. leaves office in January.

Sullivan told Yermak that the U.S. administration plans to provide Ukraine with 500 additional Patriot and ARAAM missiles by the end of the year to bolster its air defense, officials said.

Meanwhile, North Korea said its top diplomat was visiting Russia, another sign of deepening relations.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years, with North Korea continuing a series of provocative weapons tests and South Korea and the United States expanding their military exercises.

Russian drones, missiles and bombs slammed into Kyiv and Kharkiv, Ukraine’s largest cities, in overnight attacks, killing four people and wounding 15 in an ongoing air attack, authorities said on Tuesday.

Russia has been bombing civilian areas of Ukraine almost daily since its full-scale invasion of the neighboring country, resulting in thousands of casualties.

The Russian army is also actively fighting forward defenses in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine. On Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said Russian troops had captured the Donetsk town of Gornik, as well as the villages of Katerynivka and Bogoyavlenka.

Zelensky also spoke about the war at a meeting on Tuesday in Reykjavik with the leaders of Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden. He said a conference would begin in Canada on Wednesday on what he said was Russia’s abduction of tens of thousands of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine.

The Russian air attack struck Kharkov in northeastern Ukraine around 3 a.m., damaging a house and killing four people, regional governor Oleg Sinegubov said. According to him, about 20 houses were damaged as a result of the attack.

Hours earlier, Russia dropped a glide bomb on the landmark State Industry Building in the center of Kharkov, wounding seven people, Mayor Igor Terekhov said. Gosprom, also known as the Palace of Industry, is being considered for inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Terekhov said that in recent days Russia has concentrated attacks on Kharkov. He urged people not to ignore air raid warnings.

Kyiv authorities said debris from intercepted Russian drones fell on two areas of the city, injuring six people.

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Ukraine has also used long-range drones to disrupt the Russian military machine and embarrass the Kremlin by striking targets on Russian soil.

A special forces academy in the Russian province of Chechnya was attacked by drones, causing a fire that was quickly extinguished, according to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

It was the first drone attack of the war on Chechnya, which is about 800 kilometers (500 miles) east of Ukraine.