Putin’s North Koreans now in combat zone, Kyiv says – POLITICO
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According to updated estimates from Kyiv, Pyongyang has transferred about 12,000 troops to Russia, including 500 officers and three army generals. Earlier this week Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine had already spotted North Korean army officers in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine’s eastern region of Donbas.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has not confirmed or denied the presence of DPRK troops in his country. At the BRICS summit on Thursday, the Kremlin leader said it was “not Russia’s actions that led to the escalation,” and accused Western countries of helping Ukraine fight Moscow.
Instead, he recalled that Russia’s parliament had ratified an agreement on a “comprehensive strategic partnership” with North Korea, signed by Putin in Pyongyang this summer, where both promise “mutual assistance in case of aggression” against one of the signatories.