By Enyichukwu Enemanna
NATO on Monday said North Korean troops have been dispatched to Russia to help Moscow fight its war against Ukraine.
It also said the troops have been deployed to Russia’s Kursk region where Ukrainian forces invaded during a surprise attack in August and still hold territory.
“The deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea is a threat to both Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic security,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told reporters in Brussels after NATO officials and diplomats received a briefing from a South Korean delegation of intelligence and military officials.
The NATO Secretary-General said the North Korean deployment of 3,000 troops represented “a significant escalation” of Pyongyang’s involvement in “Russia’s illegal war” in Ukraine, a breach of UN Security Council resolutions and a “dangerous expansion” of the 32-month war.
The NATO Secretary-General said the deployment of North Korean troops was a sign of “growing desperation” on the part of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Over 600,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in Putin’s war and he is unable to sustain his assault on Ukraine without foreign support,” said Rutte.
Moscow has however dismissed reports about a North Korean troop deployment, calling it “fake news.”
Putin last week admitted that North Korean troops were currently in Russia, saying it was up to Moscow to decide how to deploy them as part of a mutual defence security agreement he signed with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June.
On the battlefront, Ukraine’s military said Monday that Russian forces attacked overnight with 100 aerial drones targeting areas across the country.
The Ukrainian air force said it shot down 66 of the drones, with most of the intercepts taking place over the Cherkasy, Khmelnytskyi and Kyiv regions.
