Zelensky Issues Warning About US Reaction to North Korean Troops in Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a new warning to his allies, including the United States, to take action before North Korean troops being trained in Russia reach the battlefield in his war-torn country.

He drew attention to the need to ask for permission to use Western-made long-range weapons to strike training camps in Russia, where these troops are stationed.

“America is watching, Britain is watching, Germany is watching. Everyone is just waiting for the North Korean military to start attacking Ukrainians,” Zelensky said in a post late Friday on the Telegram messaging app.

According to President Joe Biden’s administration and Ukrainian military intelligence, North Korean soldiers are currently in Russia’s Kursk region near Ukraine’s border. Thousands have been equipped with Russian gear and weapons and trained at five locations in Russia’s Far East.

Western leaders view the deployment of North Korean troops as a significant escalation. This could lead to technology transfers from Moscow to Pyongyang, potentially advancing North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs, thus affecting Indo-Pacific relations.

Newsweek reached out to the U.S. State Department via email Saturday for comment.

There are looming questions over how well the North Korean fighters, who lack combat experience, will perform.

It is unclear how many casualties Pyongyang’s forces will sustain and just how many of the country’s elite soldiers North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will be willing to involve in the bloody conflict.

South Korea’s intelligence agency said earlier this month that an initial batch of 1,500 fighters had traveled to Russia, and were kitted out with Russian military uniforms, Russian-made weapons and fake documents claiming the fighters were residents of regions in Siberia. More troops were expected to travel soon, the agency said in mid-October.

Washington has said they will be “legitimate military targets” and U.S. envoy to the U.N., Robert Wood, said that if North Korean troops “enter Ukraine in support of Russia, they will surely return in body bags.”

In an interview with the South Korean TV channel KBS Thursday, Zelensky said North Korean soldiers have not yet taken part in combat but he expects they will and that this would happen in “days, not months.”

Regarding the reaction to the deployment of North Korean troops, Zelensky said, according to Reuters: “Putin is checking the reaction of the West…And I believe that after all these reactions, Putin will decide and increase the contingent…The reaction that is there today is nothing, it is zero.”

Zelensky also specified that Ukraine “await[s] an official team from South Korea, as they have confirmed their plans to send specialists to Ukraine” and emphasized that “strong allies are essential” as “facing Russia and North Korea alone would be dangerous.”

In addition the Ukrainian president wrote about the upcoming U.S. presidential election in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“The next U.S. president may strengthen or weaken support for Ukraine. If that support weakens, Russia will seize more territory, it would prevent us from winning this war,” he said. “That is the reality. Our stance isn’t about territorial compromises but exploring potential diplomatic paths that rely on the U.S. maintaining its commitment. A genuine desire from the United States to end this war swiftly is crucial.”