Zelensky warns Russia is preparing for 30,000 more North Korean soldiers

Russia is preparing to bring in an additional 30,000 North Korean troops to its war against Ukraine, with Pyongyang also planning to send more missile launchers to Moscow to support the war effort, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Zelensky made the remarks in an X post summarizing his nightly video address, saying that Moscow has been preparing since last month to deploy the troops to a border region in the southwest.

"Russia wants to receive another 30,000 troops from North Korea. Since June, preparations have been under way in Russia's Voronezh region to receive them," Zelensky said in the post.

"North Korea is also preparing to transfer additional launchers for ballistic missiles to Russia," he said.

Zelensky warned that the potential deployment would pose a threat to other Asian countries within range of the North's missile launches.

"This is a threat not only to Ukraine. Russia is helping North Korea learn how to wage war, improve its weapons and gain real combat experience in using them," he said.

"All of this is a threat to everyone in Asia who is within range of North Korean missiles," Zelensky added.

The Ukrainian leader's claims came after North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui returned from her four-day visit to Moscow last week.

During her trip, Choe met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and her Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, raising speculation that her visit was aimed at arranging a potential visit to Russia by the North's leader Kim Jong-un.

Putin and Kim signed a mutual defense pact in June 2024, after which Pyongyang deployed its first batch of troops to Russia's border regions in October of that year to aid Moscow's war effort against Kyiv.

The North is since believed to have sent around 20,000 combat troops and military engineers to the Kursk region, with as many as 14,000 estimated to be currently deployed to the front lines.

Yonhap