About 8,000 North Korean troops on Ukraine border expected to engage in combat within days, US says – Las Vegas Sun

WASHINGTON — About 8,000 North Korean troops are now in Russia near the border with Ukraine and are preparing to help the Kremlin fight Ukrainian troops in the coming days, the Biden administration said Thursday.

The new figure was a dramatic increase from a day earlier, when Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said only that some troops had moved toward Ukraine’s border in the Kursk region, where Moscow’s forces are struggling to repel a Ukrainian incursion.

It would also mean that most of the North Korean troops that the US and its allies say have been sent to Russia are now on the Ukrainian border.

The US estimates that a total of about 10,000 North Korean troops are in Russia. Seoul and its allies estimated the number had risen to 11,000, while Ukraine put the figure higher at 12,000.

Of the 8,000 in Kursk, “we have not yet seen those troops deploy in combat against Ukrainian forces, but we would expect that to happen in the coming days,” Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said at a news conference in Washington with Austin and their South Korean counterparts.

Russia is training North Korean soldiers in artillery, drones and “basic infantry operations, including trench clearing, which shows that they fully intend to use these forces in front-line operations,” Blinken said.

North Korea’s efforts to tighten its relationship with Russia have raised concerns around the world about how it could expand the war in Ukraine and what Russian military aid would be delivered in return.

It became a key topic as the leaders of the US and South Korea met this week in Washington, fueling fears that the presence of these troops would further destabilize the Asia-Pacific region and widen Moscow’s war on Ukraine.

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul condemned the deployment “in the strongest possible manner” and called for an immediate troop withdrawal. North Korea’s bellicose actions not only threaten the European continent but also the Korean Peninsula, and that Seoul agrees to “take appropriate measures,” he said.

Blinken and Austin said the U.S. was in talks with South Korea and allies in Europe about next steps, and noted that additional military aid to Ukraine would soon be announced. The US has provided more than $59 billion in military aid to help Ukraine repel Russia.

Austin reiterated that Moscow has provided North Korean troops with Russian uniforms and equipment, another indication that they are likely to be used on the front lines.

“Make no mistake, if these North Korean troops engage in combat or combat support operations against Ukraine, they will become legitimate military targets,” Austin said.

However, he said the injection of North Korean troops was unlikely to cause Ukraine to lose ground in Kursk: “Those 10,000 will not come close to replacing the number the Russians have lost” in the fighting so far.

The US estimates that more than 500,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in the more than two-year conflict.

The leaders of the US and South Korea urged China to engage, saying Beijing should be deeply concerned by the moves and the possibility they could further destabilize the region.

There are questions about what new military technology North Korea might get from Russia in exchange for the deployment, and whether that might prompt other nations to send their own forces to fight in the war.

North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile on Thursday for the first time in nearly a year, demonstrating a potential advance in its ability to launch long-range nuclear attacks against the US mainland. Some experts speculate that Russia may have provided technological assistance to North Korea for the launch.

During the US-South Korea ministerial meeting in Washington, the US, South Korea and Japan issued a joint statement condemning the missile launch as a “gross violation” of multiple UN Security Council resolutions and criticizing deepening military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, especially the deployment of North Korean troops.

“We strongly urge (North Korea) to immediately end its series of provocative and destabilizing actions that threaten the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula and beyond,” they said.

In a dramatic moment during a UN Security Council meeting earlier Thursday, US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood first noted the number of North Korean troops near Ukraine.

“I have a very respectful question for my Russian colleague: Does Russia still claim that there are no DPRK troops in Russia? This is my only question and last point,” he said, using the acronym for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or North Korea.

Russia’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Anna Evstigneeva, shook her head, indicating she did not want to respond to the comment at a meeting convened by Moscow to discuss the flow of Western weapons to Ukraine.

In addition to troops, North Korea has also provided ammunition to Russia, and earlier this month the White House released photos of what it said was North Korea sending 1,000 containers of military equipment there by rail.

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Lederer reported from the United Nations.