Zelensky: North Korea preparing to send another 10,000 soldiers to Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that there are more than 8,000 North Korean soldiers on Russian territory and that preparations are underway to send another 10,000.

Citing new data on the deployment of North Korean soldiers, Zelensky said last night in a post on the X network that they are being selected for training and later deployment in Russia.

Zelensky said in August that up to 50,000 North Korean soldiers could be sent to fight for Russia and called on South Korea to provide support for Ukraine’s air defense.

In return, Russia is paying, among other things, with technology, he said, adding that production of Shahed-type drones has been established in North Korea with Russian technical support.

“This is how evil spreads and how the threat to life in one part of the world moves to other parts. This can only be overcome together,” Zelensky said.

Zelensky said this after the emergence of disagreements between Seoul and Kyiv over his statement last week that Ukraine had transferred two captured North Korean soldiers to South Korea, reports Reuters.

Seoul expressed regret over this statement, citing an agreement that the transfer of soldiers should be kept confidential. South Korea also protested what it said was a false statement from the Ukrainian president’s office denying the existence of such a confidentiality agreement.

North Korea has sent between 14,000 and 15,000 soldiers since 2024 to support Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to Ukrainian and South Korean estimates, and most have been deployed in Russia’s Kursk region to help repel a Ukrainian incursion, reports Reuters..