KYIV, Ukraine — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Ukraine’s allies to stop “watching” and take steps before North Korean troops deployed in Russia reach the battlefield, and the country’s army chief warned that his troops are facing “one of the most powerful offensives” by Moscow since the all-out war started more than two years ago.
Zelenskyy raised the prospect of a preemptive Ukrainian strike on camps where the North Korean troops are being trained and said Kyiv knows their location. But he said Ukraine can’t do it without permission from allies to use Western-made long-range weapons to hit targets deep inside Russia.
“But instead … America is watching, Britain is watching, Germany is watching. Everyone is just waiting for the North Korean military to start attacking Ukrainians as well,” Zelenskyy said in a post late Friday on the Telegram messaging app.
The Biden administration said Thursday that some 8,000 North Korean soldiers are now in Russia’s Kursk region near Ukraine’s border and are preparing to help the Kremlin fight against Ukrainian troops in the coming days.
On Saturday, Ukraine’s military intelligence said that more than 7,000 North Koreans equipped with Russian gear and weapons had been transported to areas near Ukraine. The agency, known by its acronym GUR, said North Korean troops were being trained at five locations in Russia’s Far East. It did not specify its source of information.
North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui met with her Russian counterpart in Moscow on Friday.
Escalation, Putin says
Ukrainian leaders have repeatedly said they need permission to use Western weapons to strike arms depots, airfields and military bases far from the border to motivate Russia to seek peace. In response, U.S. defense officials have argued that the missiles are limited in number, and that Ukraine is already using its own long-range drones to hit targets farther into Russia.
Moscow has also consistently signaled that it would view any such strikes as a major escalation. President Vladimir Putin warned on Sept. 12 that Russia would be “at war” with the U.S. and NATO states if they approve them.
General hints at losses
Zelenskyy’s call came shortly before Ukraine’s top commander, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskiy, said Saturday that his troops are struggling to stem “one of the most powerful offensives” by Russia since its all-out invasion of its southern neighbor in February 2022.
Writing on Telegram following a call with a top Czech military official, Syrskiy hinted that Ukrainian units are taking heavy losses in the fighting, which he said “require constant renewal of resources.”
For months, Russia has been conducting a ferocious campaign along the eastern front in Ukraine, gradually compelling Kyiv to surrender ground. But Moscow has struggled to push Ukrainian forces out of its Kursk border region following an incursion almost three months ago.
Russian missiles hit Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Friday night into Saturday, killing a police officer and injuring dozens, local Gov. Oleh Syniehubov reported.
