This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
The Pentagon said on October 29 that a “small number” of North Korean troops have been deployed in Russia’s Kursk region and expressed concern that they will be used in combat against Ukrainian troops.
There are “indications that there’s already a small number that are actually in the Kursk Oblast, with a couple thousand more that are either almost there or due to arrive imminently,” Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said in a briefing.
Ryder told reporters that the Pentagon had no information to corroborate reports that there are North Korean troops inside Ukraine.
U.S. President Joe Biden said he was concerned about the presence of the troops in Kursk and said Ukrainian forces should strike back if North Korean troops cross into Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he spoke to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and told him that 3,000 North Korean soldiers are already at military bases close to the Ukrainian front line and that he expects that deployment to increase to 12,000.
“There is only one conclusion — this war is internationalized and goes beyond the borders” of Ukraine and Russia, Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram.
The Ukrainian president also said he and Yeol agreed to step up their countries’ cooperation and exchange more intelligence, as well as develop concrete responses to Pyongyang’s involvement.
White House national-security adviser Jake Sullivan met on October 29 in Washington with Andriy Yermak, Zelenskiy’s top adviser, to discuss the North Korean troops and Zelenskiy’s “victory plan” to end the war.
“Military assistance to Ukraine, sanctions against Russia, and increasing pressure on Moscow’s allies are essential,” Yermak said on X.
Russian forces continued their aerial onslaught against Ukraine in overnight attacks, authorities said earlier on October 29.
Russian bombings killed four people in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram. The attack on the city’s Osnovyansk district also caused damage to civilian infrastructure and housing, Terekhov said.
It was the second Russian strike on the city in less than six hours. Nine people were wounded in a first strike that targeted the city center, damaging a historic building, Terekhov reported.
Terekhov said Russia has concentrated attacks on Kharkiv in recent days. He urged people not to ignore air raid warnings.
In a separate attack, Russian drones struck Kyiv early on October 29, wounding at least six civilians, one seriously, Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Ukraine’s capital, reported on Telegram.
Russia has bombarded civilian areas of Ukraine almost daily since its full-scale invasion of its neighbor, causing thousands of casualties.
The Russian Army is also pushing hard against frontline defenses in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine.
Zelenskiy also spoke about the war at a meeting in Reykjavik with the leaders of Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
He said a conference will begin in Canada on October 30 to address the abduction of what he said were tens of thousands of children by Russia from Ukraine’s occupied territories.
