Kyiv, Sept. 29 (SANA) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Monday that more than 8,000 North Korean troops were on Russian territory and that preparations were under way to deploy another 10,000, Reuters reported.
Citing new information in a post on X, Zelenskiy said the additional troops were being selected for training before deployment. He gave no timetable, and the figures could not be independently verified.
North Korean deployment and losses
North Korea has sent an estimated 14,000 to 15,000 troops to support Russia’s war in Ukraine since 2024, according to Ukrainian and South Korean estimates. Most were deployed in Russia’s Kursk region to help repel a Ukrainian incursion.
About 2,300 North Korean soldiers may have died fighting in Kursk, according to a BBC analysis of photographs of a memorial unveiled in Pyongyang in April. The estimate is based on the number of names the BBC calculated could be engraved on its walls. North Korea has not disclosed a death toll.
Prisoner transfer strains ties with Seoul
Zelenskiy’s comments came as South Korea summoned Ukraine’s acting ambassador over his announcement last week that Kyiv had transferred two captured North Korean soldiers to Seoul. South Korea said the disclosure breached an agreement to keep the transfer confidential; Zelenskiy’s office denied that such an agreement existed.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called the announcement “greatly disappointing.” His office said secrecy was intended in part to protect the soldiers’ families. Seoul demanded an apology after Zelenskiy’s office disputed its account of the agreement.
Ukraine said its forces captured the two wounded soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region on January 9, 2025. Ukraine’s Security Service said they received medical care and were taken to Kyiv. The men later expressed a wish to go to South Korea, according to the BBC.
In August, Zelenskiy said up to 50,000 North Korean soldiers could be sent to fight for Russia and urged South Korea to help strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses. Seoul announced a $100 million aid package for Ukraine in July but excluded lethal weapons.
Zelenskiy also said in August that Ukraine believed Russia planned to draft another 300,000 troops after its September parliamentary elections. He said Russia might recruit more in 2027 toward an overall goal of 500,000 troops. Moscow’s plans could not be independently verified.
Pyongyang has also supplied Russia with millions of artillery and mortar rounds, as well as ballistic missiles, long-range artillery systems and multiple-launch rocket systems, according to Ukrainian and independent assessments.
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