Ukraine releases video of North Korean soldiers preparing for Putin’s war

North Korean soldiers are training at a Russian military camp before joining Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion, according to the Ukrainian government, which has released a video supporting its claims.

Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security released footage following statements by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that about 10,000 North Korean soldiers are being trained to join the Russian army.

A video released by Ukrainian media on Friday purports to show North Korean personnel queuing to collect equipment at the Sergeyevsky training range in Russia’s Primorye region in the Far East.

The video has not been independently verified and Newsweek the Russian Defense Ministry has asked for comment.

The head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, claimed that the first group of 2,600 soldiers would be deployed to Russia’s Kursk Oblast, where Ukraine staged an incursion in August, and that around 11,000 North Korean soldiers would be “battle-ready” in Ukraine by early next month “would be.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said on Friday that Pyongyang sent 1,500 soldiers from Chongjin, Hamhung and Musudan in North Korea to Vladivostok between October 8 and 13 and that a second group would be sent soon.

The NIS released satellite images from a Russian ship near North Korea showing personnel gathered at Russian military facilities in Ussuryisk and Khabarovsk.

The Washington DC-based think tank Institute for the Study of War said Ukrainian and Russian sources corroborated intelligence reports and that the footage “appears to be consistent with reports of North Korean troop buildups in Russia, but does not independently confirm the claims.”

Retired Australian Army Major General Mick Ryan said Pyongyang’s alleged involvement raises questions about whether another belligerent should change US and NATO policy in the war.

In a Substack post published Saturday, Ryan argued that the U.S. and NATO should at least provide air and missile defense over Ukraine “like Western nations do for Israel.”

“This is a significant escalation of the war by Russia,” Ryan wrote. “If Putin can bring in the north [Korean] troops and NATO standing by, this confirms that the US and its allies are more concerned about the loss of Russia than the loss of Ukraine. That would be a significant strategic and moral failure on the part of the West.”

Meanwhile, the question of whether Pyongyang’s alleged involvement in the war violated a “red line” for the US and NATO was the subject of debate letter from U.S. Rep. Mike Turner to President Joe Biden demanding answers.

The Ohio Republican said such troop movements were “alarming” and required an “immediate response from the United States and our NATO allies to prevent the conflict from spreading.”

Newsweek has also contacted the US State Department and NATO for comment.