Zelensky calls on allies to act before North Korean troops reach the front

Kyiv, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky called on allies to stop “observing” and take action before North Korean troops stationed in Russia are reaching the battlefield, with the country’s army chief warning that his troops face “one of the most powerful offensives” from Moscow since all-out war began more than two years ago.

Zelensky raised the prospect of a preemptive Ukrainian strike on camps where North Korean troops are training, and said Kyiv knows their location. But he said Ukraine could not do so without allied permission to use Western long-range weapons to hit targets deep inside Russia.

“But instead… America is watching, Britain is watching, Germany is watching. Everyone is just waiting for the North Korean military to start attacking Ukrainians as well,” Zelensky wrote in a message late Friday on the Telegram app.

The Biden administration said Thursday that about 8,000 North Korean soldiers are now in the Russian Kursk region near the border with Ukraine and are preparing to help the Kremlin fight against Ukrainian troops in the coming days.

On Saturday, Ukrainian military intelligence said more than 7,000 North Koreans equipped with Russian equipment and weapons had been transported to areas near Ukraine. The agency, known by its acronym GUR, said North Korean troops were training in five locations in Russia’s Far East. He did not specify the source of information.

Western leaders described Deployment of North Korean troops as a significant escalation it could also shake up relations in the Indo-Pacific region and open the door to technology transfers from Moscow to Pyongyang, which could increase the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.

North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Song Hui met with her Russian counterpart in Moscow on Friday.

Ukrainian leaders have repeatedly said they need permission to use Western weapons to strike weapons depots, airfields and military bases far from the border to encourage Russia to pursue peace. In response Representatives of the US Department of Defense claim that the number of missiles is limited and that Ukraine already uses its own long-range drones to hit targets further away in Russia.

Moscow also constantly signaled that it would view any such strikes as a serious escalation. President Vladimir Putin warned on September 12 that Russia would be “at war” with the US and NATO countries if they approved them.

Zelensky’s call came shortly before Ukraine’s top commander, General Oleksandr Syrsky, said on Saturday that his troops were struggling to stop “one of the most powerful offensives” by Russia since its all-out invasion of its southern neighbor in February 2022.

In a Telegram post after a conversation with a senior Czech military official, Syrsky hinted that Ukrainian units were suffering heavy losses in battles, which he said “require constant replenishment of resources.”

Although Syrsky did not specify where exactly the heavy fighting took place, Russia has been waging a bitter campaign on the eastern front in Ukraine for months, gradually forcing Kyiv to surrender its position. But Moscow is struggling to push Ukrainian troops out of the Kursk border region after invasion almost three months ago.

Russian missiles struck Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkov on Saturday night, killing a police officer and wounding dozens, local governor Oleg Sinegubov said. According to Sinegubov and the National Police of Ukraine, one rocket hit a place where a large group of police had gathered, killing a 40-year-old soldier and injuring 36 others.

In the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, Russian shelling on Saturday killed a 40-year-old woman and wounded three others, including two children, local governor Alexander Prokudin said. According to local Ukrainian authorities, another Kherson resident was wounded in a drone attack later that day.

Five more civilians, including two children, were injured after Russia launched a strike in Ukraine’s central Dnepropetrovsk region, Governor Sergei Lysak said.

In Kyiv, air raid sirens wailed for more than five hours early Saturday as Russian drones struck the capital, causing a fire in a downtown office building and injuring two people, according to the city’s military administration.

In total, Russian troops attacked Ukraine overnight using more than 70 Iranian-made Shahed drones, the Ukrainian Air Force said on Saturday. It said most were shot down or thrown off course due to GPS interference. Falling debris damaged power grids and homes in many areas and injured an elderly woman near Kiev, officials said.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry has hinted that Russia’s drone campaign is slowing, saying Moscow flew just over half the number of drones in October than the month before.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 24 Ukrainian drones overnight over four Russian regions and occupied Crimea. There were no reports of casualties or damage.

In addition, four civilians were wounded in the Ukrainian strike in the Kursk region in southern Russia, its governor Alexei Smirnov said, without specifying what weapons were used. Moscow is still trying to push Ukrainian troops out of the province, months after they staged a daring attack that alarmed the Kremlin and became the biggest assault on Russia since World War II.

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