Zelenskyy urges allies to act before North Korean troops reach front

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged Ukraine’s allies to stop “watching” and take steps before North Korean troops deployed in Russia reach the frontline.

Zelenskyy raised the prospect of a pre-emptive 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 on the Telegram messaging app.

On Thursday, the Biden administration said that around 8,000 North Korean soldiers are now in Russia’s Kursk region near the border with Ukraine and are preparing to support Russian forces in the coming days.

On Saturday, Ukraine’s military intelligence (GUR) said that more than 7,000 North Koreans equipped with Russian gear and weapons had been transported to areas near Ukraine.

The GUR said that North Korean troops were being trained at five locations in Russia’s Far East but did not specify the source of its information.

Western leaders have described the North Korean troop deployment as a significant escalation that could jolt relations in the Indo-Pacific region and open the door to technology transfers from Moscow to Pyongyang that could advance the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programme.

Zelenskyy’s call came shortly before Ukraine’s top commander, General Oleksandr Syrskiy, said on Saturday that his troops are struggling to stem “one of the most powerful offensives” by Russia since its all-out invasion of its southern neighbour in February 2022.

Writing on Telegram following a call with a top Czech military official, Syrskyi hinted that Ukrainian units are taking heavy losses in the fighting, which he said “require constant renewal of resources.”

While Syrskyi did not specify where the heavy fighting took place, Russia has for months 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 there almost three months ago.