Close to 11,000 North Korean troops are in Russia and will be "ready to fight" in Ukraine by Nov. 1, military intelligence head Kyrylo Budanov said in comments published by the War Zone on Oct. 17.
Budanov said the first group of 2,600 soldiers will be deployed to Russia's Kursk Oblast, where Ukraine began a cross-border incursion in August and still holds significant swathes of territory. The troops will be using Russian equipment and ammunition, but further information is currently unknown.
"We don't have the full picture right now," Budanov said.
Concerns about North Korea's direct involvement in Russia's full-scale war have reached a fever pitch in recent days.
Speaking at a press conference in Brussels on Oct. 17, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia is planning to train and engage not only infantry but also North Korean specialists in various branches of the military.
"We know about 10,000 soldiers from North Korea they are preparing to send to fight against us," he added.
The Kyiv Independent contacted the President's Office to ask about the discrepancy between Budanov and Zelensky's figures, but had not received a response at the time of publication.
Zelensky's statement came days after a Western diplomat told the Kyiv Independent that Pyongyang had sent 10,000 soldiers to Russia.
According to military intelligence, some North Korean officers are already in the occupied territories of Ukraine and joined the Russian army. Their number is unknown, Zelensky added. He also said Moscow plans to "actually involve" North Korea in the war in the coming months.
Estimates of North Korean troops involved in the war have continued to tick upwards.
South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) said on Oct. 18 Pyongyang had recently decided to deploy 12,000 North Korean soldiers, including special forces, to support Russia's war effort. The NIS did not say if the troops had already been sent into the field or where they might deployed.
At the same time, Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder said on Oct. 17 he "can't confirm whether there's North Korean forces that have gone to Russia" but added that the U.S. would "continue to monitor" the situation.
If the reports were true, it would "demonstrate the situation that Russia finds itself in, the dire situation that it finds itself in, in terms of its forces on the battlefield."
"And so it just demonstrates the desperation in terms of identifying additional forces for their military," Ryder added.
Chris York
