Ukrainian intelligence services have released audio of what they claim to be Russian troops complaining about the arrival of North Korean fighters and arguing about how they will be equipped.
In one recording, a pair of soldiers can be heard complaining about the so-called ‘K Battalion’, referring to them as ‘damn Chinese’ and stating that one of their fellow soldiers had said ‘who knows what the fuck’. **we’re supposed to do with them.’
Another clip obtained by Ukrainian Defense Intelligence (GUR) appeared to expose the lack of communication and planning regarding the integration of North Korean troops with their Russian counterparts.
“He was simply talking about Battalion K, I say: ‘And who gets them the weapons and ammunition?’ We have rations and from what I hear they are for the brigade,” complained one Russian soldier.
“He said, ‘What damn brigade?’ You’re getting it all.” I just said I understood everything and went out to smoke.’
It comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sounded the alarm that Pyongyang troops could be deployed to the front alongside Russian forces to fight kyiv’s defenders as soon as Sunday.
Meanwhile, Russia’s lower parliament unanimously ratified a defense treaty with North Korea that was signed between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un during the Russian president’s state visit to the North Korean capital in June.
A leaked video allegedly shows North Korean troops in Russia equipped with military equipment.
A Russian soldier fires a D-30 howitzer at Ukrainian positions in an undisclosed location in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president has warned that North Korea’s involvement could accelerate the outbreak of World War III.
Putin and Kim clink glasses during Putin’s visit to Pyongyang
South Korea urged Russia to end its “illegal cooperation” with Pyongyang and expressed “serious concern” this morning after Moscow ratified its defense pact, which stipulates that each side must Provide assistance if the other faces aggression.
The treaty will now be sent to the upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, for approval.
Shortly after Seoul’s warning, Zelensky declared that Russia planned to send North Korean troops into battle against his country as early as Sunday, and urged world leaders to exert “tangible pressure” on Pyongyang.
South Korea and the United States said thousands of North Korean troops were training in Russia.
Ukraine said this week that North Korean soldiers had reached the “combat zone” in the Russian border region of Kursk.
While stopping short of confirming that it had deployed troops on the ground, North Korea said any troop deployment to Russia would be in line with international law.
“(Seoul) expresses serious concern over Russia’s ratification of the Russia-North Korea treaty amid the ongoing deployment of North Korean troops to Russia,” South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
He added that the South Korean government “strongly urges the immediate withdrawal of North Korean troops and the cessation of illegal cooperation.”
Seoul said it would work with its allies to “take appropriate measures” on the move, and the country – a major arms exporter – has suggested it could review its long-standing policy prohibiting it from shipping weapons directly to kyiv.
Zelensky, following a meeting with defense officials on Friday, said North Korean troops could be sent to fight Ukrainian troops this weekend.
“According to intelligence reports, on October 27 and 28, Russia will use the first North Korean army in combat zones,” he said on social media.
“North Korea’s actual involvement in hostilities should not be met with a blind eye and confusing comments, but with tangible pressure on both Moscow and Pyongyang to comply with the UN Charter and punish escalation,” he added. .
A senior official in the Ukrainian president’s office said North Korean troops could be deployed to the battle in Russia’s Kursk region or eastern Ukraine.
Putin said in an interview broadcast Friday on state television that it was up to Moscow how it uses the treaty’s clause on mutual military assistance.
‘What action we will take with this clause is still in doubt. “We are in contact with our North Korean friends,” Putin said.
‘I mean it’s our sovereign decision whether we use something or not. Where, how, if we need it or if, for example, we only do some exercises, train, transmit some experience, that is our business,” he added.
Seoul and Washington have long claimed that the nuclear-armed North is sending significant arms shipments to Russia.
One of North Korea’s representatives at the United Nations told the UN General Assembly’s First Committee on Disarmament and International Security that the country would not send weapons or soldiers to help Moscow.
The accusations by South Korea and others “are nothing more than baseless rumors aimed at tarnishing the image of the DPRK,” Rim Mu Song said, referring to the North by its official name.
“It is another smear campaign devised by Ukraine” to obtain “more weapons and financial support from the United States and Western countries.”
North Korean soldiers are seen breaking concrete blocks in a demonstration before Kim and senior officials.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un points a gun while visiting a training base
New 600mm multiple rocket launcher tested at undisclosed location in North Korea
Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un meet in Pyongyang on June 19, 2024
The South Korean representative pointed to videos circulating online of North Korean soldiers in Russian uniforms speaking Korean, but Rim said they “again totally reject the accusation” of troop deployment.
However, on Friday a diplomatic official argued that Pyongyang would be within its rights to deploy soldiers on Russian soil.
“If there is such a thing that the world media is talking about, I believe it will be an act in accordance with the norms of international law,” said Kim Jong Gyu, vice foreign minister in charge of Russian affairs.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called the deployment a “provocation that threatens global security beyond the Korean Peninsula and Europe.”
Yoon also said South Korea will “review” its stance on supplying weapons to Ukraine in its war with Russia, which the country has long resisted.
Seoul has already sold billions of dollars worth of tanks, howitzers, attack planes and rocket launchers to Poland, a key ally of kyiv.
In June, South Korea agreed to transfer the knowledge needed to build K2 tanks to Poland, which experts say could be a key step toward production within Ukraine.
South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace has signed a $1.64 billion deal with Poland to supply rocket artillery units.
North Korea adopted a new national anthem, state media reported Friday, another move that experts suspect will boost leader Kim Jong Un’s push to define his country as completely separate and in opposition to the South.
North Korea amended its constitution to define the South as a “hostile” state and last week blew up roads and railways that once connected the two countries.