(CNN) – North Korea is sending its citizens to help Russia’s military fight Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, raising concerns about an alliance between Moscow and a state notorious for secrecy.
In his daily video message on Sunday, Ukraine’s president said: “We see a growing alliance between Russia and regimes like North Korea. It’s not just about changing weapons. “In reality, it’s about transferring people from North Korea to the occupying military forces.”
Zelensky’s impeachment comes amid an increasingly cordial relationship Between Moscow and Pyongyang. Russian President Vladimir Putin visited North Korea in June, his first in more than two decades, and Western observers are wondering how much North Korea helped fuel Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Obviously, in such situations, our relations with our partners need to grow. The initiative needs additional support,” Zelensky added, reiterating his request to the West to allow Kyiv to use long-range missiles along the Russian border.
A Ukrainian intelligence source, who did not want to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, told CNN last week that a small number of North Koreans are working with the Russian military, mainly to help exchange information on engineering and applications. North Korean ammunition. Some of them died recently in eastern Ukraine, the source said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday dismissed allegations that North Korean personnel were sent to help Russia as “another hoax.”
But South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said last week it was monitoring developments and believed the claim to be accurate.
Speaking at the annual parliamentary audit of the defense ministry on Tuesday, Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun said, “Based on various circumstances, the casualties of North Korean officers and soldiers in Ukraine may be real.”
“We believe that the possibility of additional deployment of conventional troops is very high, because Russia and North Korea have entered into a mutual agreement, which is almost equivalent to a military alliance. We will be well prepared for this possibility,” he added.
Several governments have accused Pyongyang of supplying Moscow with weapons War in UkraineBoth countries have denied an allegation despite significant evidence of such transfers.
Both countries have forged increasingly strong ties with the West since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
During Putin’s visit to the North Korean capital in June, the two countries pledged to provide immediate military assistance if the other came under attack as part of a historic defense pact agreed by the autocrats.
Putin said during the visit that the two countries were taking their relations to a “new level”.
Ahead of the talks between the two, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expressed “full support and solidarity with the struggles of the Russian government, military and people,” specifically pointing to Moscow’s war in Ukraine to “protect its own sovereignty, security” and regional stability.”
