Putin's North Koreans now in combat zone, says Kyiv – POLITICO

According to updated estimates from Kiev, Pyongyang has transferred about 12,000 troops to Russia, including 500 officers and three army generals. Earlier this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine had already spotted North Korean army officers in Russian-occupied areas of eastern Ukraine's Donbas region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Korean troops in his country. At the BRICS summit on Thursday, the Kremlin leader said it was “not Russia's actions that led to the escalation” and accused Western countries of helping Ukraine in the fight against Moscow.

Instead, he recalled that the Russian parliament had ratified an agreement signed by Putin in Pyongyang this summer on a “comprehensive strategic partnership” with North Korea, in which both promise “mutual support in the event of aggression” against one of the signatories.

“Let’s see how this process goes,” Putin said.

While the Kremlin has insisted that Russia has the right to conduct any military cooperation it wishes with North Korea and that any military activity is not directed “against third countries,” Pyongyang has the message that DPRK troops are prepared , to enter the war of Russia, rejected unfounded rumors.

Moscow has assigned Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov to oversee the training and adaptation of North Korean troops, Ukraine's military intelligence said.

“The soldiers sent by Pyongyang are equipped with ammunition, bedding, winter clothing and shoes, and hygiene items. “The Kremlin has high hopes for the North Korean component in the war against Ukraine and in the global confrontation with the West,” HUR said.

“I think they sent the officers because their officers would first understand what was going on and then send the contingent. For how do you manage them, how do you command them? I'm talking about language. I think these are serious difficulties,” Zelenskyy told reporters in Kiev on Monday.