The EU has condemned this move as a violation of international law.
The first North Korean military units trained in eastern Russia have arrived in the combat zone, Kyiv reported on Thursday.
North Korean soldiers were already spotted in Russia’s border region of Kursk on Wednesday, The Ukrainian Defence Ministry’s Main Directorate of Intelligence said.
According to Ukrainian authorities, Pyongyang troops arriving in Russia are being trained at five military training grounds located in the country’s east.
The soldiers whom Russia intends to use in the war against Ukraine are given several weeks of training before their deployment.
The number of North Korean troops stationed in Russia currently totals around 12,000, including 500 officers as well as three generals, according to Ukrainian intelligence information.
Russian Deputy Defence Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov has reportedly been assigned the task of overseeing the training of North Korean troops.
Pyongyang is supplying the soldiers with ammunition, bedding, winter clothing and footwear, and hygiene products. Moscow is also providing each North Korean soldier with standard rations of 50 metres of toilet paper and 300 grams of soap each month, authorities claim.
Ukrainian intelligence believes that the Kremlin has high hopes for North Korean reinforcements in its war against Ukraine.
The authorities in Kyiv, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, have repeatedly warned that Pyongyang is sending its troops to get involved in the fighting. South Korea and the US have also previously warned of the impending deployment of North Korean troops to the Ukrainian front.
Putin: ‘What we do is our business’
Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a press conference following the BRICS summit in Kazan, commented for the first time on reports about the presence of soldiers from North Korea in Russian territory for deployment in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
An NBC News correspondent at the conference asked the Russian leader about the military’s goals, citing satellite images purporting to show Pyongyang soldiers in Russia.
“Imagery is a serious thing. If there are images, it means they reflect something,” Putin said.
The Russian president also noted that the State Duma ratified a strategic partnership treaty with North Korea on Thursday. The treaty includes an article on mutual military assistance.
“We have never doubted that the North Korean leadership takes our agreements seriously,” Putin said, “but what and how we will do is already our business within the framework of this article.”
European Union ‘alarmed’
“The European Union is deeply alarmed by reports that North Korea is sending troops to participate in Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine,” the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said in a statement.
“This would be a serious violation of international law, including the most fundamental principles of the UN Charter,” Borrell said, warning of “serious consequences for European and global peace and security”.
The EU strongly condemns the deepening military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow and arms transfers, which flagrantly violate numerous UN Security Council resolutions, he added.
The EU “will coordinate its actions with international partners on this issue, including retaliatory measures,” Borrell concluded.
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