Zelensky said the war went “beyond borders” after the annexation of North Korea

Kyiv, Ukraine —

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said on Tuesday that thousands North Korean soldiers The reinforcement of Russian troops on the front lines in Ukraine is expected to push the nearly three-year war beyond the borders of the warring parties.

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

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. South Korea, which is in close contacts with NATO, the United States and the European Union over the latest developments, warned last week that 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 agreed with Yeol to increase cooperation between their countries and share additional intelligence information between them, as well as develop concrete responses to Pyongyang’s interference.

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 and 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.

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 500 miles east of Ukraine.

Novikov writes for the Associated Press. Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.