Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that more than 3,000 North Korean troops had been killed or wounded in Russia’s Kursk region and warned that Pyongyang could send more personnel and equipment to Moscow’s military.
“There are risks that North Korea will send additional troops and military equipment to the Russian army,” Zelensky said on X after receiving a report from his top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi.
“We will have tangible answers to this,” Zelensky said.
The estimate of North Korean casualties is higher than that provided by Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), which said Monday that at least 1,100 North Korean troops were killed or wounded.
The assessment is consistent with a report last week from South Korea’s intelligence agency, which put around 100 dead and 1,000 injured in the region.
Zelenskyy said he cited preliminary data. Reuters could not independently verify reports of combat casualties.
Reports claim 12,000 troops have already been sent
Russia has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Koreans on its side. Pyongyang initially dismissed reports of the troop deployment as “fake news”, but a North Korean official said such a deployment would be legal.
According to Ukrainian and allied estimates, North Korea has sent around 12,000 troops to Russia.
Some of them were deployed to fight in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukraine still holds part of territory after a major cross-border incursion in August.
JCS added that it had detected signs that Pyongyang planned to produce suicide drones for shipment to Russia, in addition to the 240mm multiple rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled howitzers already supplied.
kyiv continues to pressure its allies to respond more forcefully, saying the transfer of war experience and military technology by Moscow and Pyongyang poses a global threat.
“For the world, the cost of restoring stability is always much higher than the cost of effective pressure on those who destabilize the situation and destroy lives,” Zelenskyy said.
