Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy blasted what he called his allies' "zero" response to Russia's deployment of North Korean troops for the war in Ukraine, saying a weak reaction would encourage Russia's Vladimir Putin to beef up the number of North Korean troops.
In an interview with South
Korea's KBS television channel, Zelenskiy said he believed Moscow was already
trying to agree for North Korea to send engineering troops and a "large
number of civilians" to work at Russian military plants.
"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," Zelenskiy said.
Zelenskiy began publicly
warning of North Korean involvement in the war on October 13 and even though
Western allies have since described the move as a major escalation, they have
not announced retaliatory measures or said they are preparing to implement any.
South Korea has offered
intelligence assistance and wider cooperation on the matter, and it is
considering sending a team of military monitors to Ukraine, according to South
Korean officials.
In prepared remarks to the U.N.
Security Council on Wednesday, Ukraine's delegation named three North Korean
generals it says are accompanying thousands of Korean People's Army troops
deployed to Russia in aid of Moscow's war in Ukraine. The direct tone of
Zelenskiy's rhetoric pointed to mounting Ukrainian frustration over the extent
of Western support for Kyiv at a critical time in the war with Russia, with the
clock counting down to Tuesday's U.S. presidential election.
Russian troops have been slowly
advancing for months in eastern Ukraine and Kyiv's outgunned and outnumbered
forces have struggled to find a way to hold them back.
Russia has not denied the
involvement of North Korean troops in the war. North Korea initially denied
involvement, but has since defended the idea of deploying troops as being in
line with international law.
Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the
United Nations Robert Wood told the Security Council on Thursday that
Washington had received information indicating that "right now" there
are 8,000 North Korean troops in Russia's southern Kursk region, which borders
on northeastern Ukraine.
In his comments, Zelenskiy said
he was surprised by the "silence" out of China, the world's second
economy, over the troop deployment.
"The Russian Federation
discussed this issue with the West and confirmed that yes, there are military
personnel from North Korea who will fight against Ukraine," he said.
Post a Comment