Pentagon says North Korea has sent 10,000 troops to fight in Ukraine

MADRID 29 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The United States Department of Defense stated this Monday that according to its estimates, North Korea has sent around 10,000 of its soldiers to eastern Russia with the aim of receiving military treatment in view of their possible participation among the Russian Armed Forces in the framework of the invasion of Ukraine.

“We have seen reports over the weekend that North Korean soldiers have begun arriving in western Russia. We believe they have sent around 10,000 troops in total to train in eastern Russia, which will likely boost Russian forces near Ukraine during the coming weeks,” said Pentagon deputy spokeswoman Sabrina Singh during a press conference.

Thus, he pointed out that “a part of those soldiers have already approached Ukraine.” “We are increasingly concerned about the possibility that Russia intends to use these soldiers in combat or to support combat operations against Ukrainian forces in the (Russian) Kursk region, near the border with Ukraine,” he said. manifested.

Singh, who indicated that Washington is “watching this closely” and consulting with its Ukrainian partners and other allies, stressed that “this is a very serious matter,” since the participation of North Korean soldiers on the battlefield ” would mark a new escalation and highlight the growing desperation” of Russian President Vladimir Putin over the number of casualties.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned last week that Russia will send “the first North Korean soldiers to combat zones on October 27 and 28” to participate in the war in Ukraine on behalf of the Russian side, which he defined as a “clear escalation” in the conflict.

Meanwhile, Putin defended that the military collaboration agreement with North Korea is part of a “sovereign decision” and has emphasized that it is up to Moscow and Pyongyang to decide when to apply the clauses of the mutual military assistance agreement signed by both in June. These statements come after international concern has grown in recent days over an alleged deployment of North Korean troops that the Russian president has avoided denying.