President Zelensky claims North Korea sending troops to help Russia in Ukraine war

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed on Sunday that North Korea is sending not only weapons but also troops to support Russia in a show of deepening military ties between the two countries.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrives at the San Damaso courtyard before meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Friday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed on Sunday that North Korea is sending not only weapons but also troops to support Russia in a show of deepening military ties between the two countries.

"We see an increasing alliance between Russia and regimes like North Korea," Zelensky said in his evening address on Sunday, according to the Kyiv Independent. "This is no longer just about transferring weapons. It is actually about transferring people from North Korea to the occupying military forces."

Zelensky further said that Ukraine’s front-line troops need “more support” to prevent a bigger war.

Zelensky's remarks Sunday are interpreted as an extension of his recent request for military and financial support for Ukraine during his tour of the United States and Europe.

Zelensky met with the leaders of Germany, Britain, France and Italy during his visits to those countries last week to ask for support. He also planned to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden, but Biden's side postponed the meeting in response to Hurricane Milton.

Ukraine has requested support from the West since early this month, claiming that North Korea is intervening in support of Russia. On Oct. 3, Ukrainian media Kyiv Post reported that six North Korean soldiers had been killed in a missile attack by the Ukrainian military near the city of Donetsk the previous day.

On Thursday, The Guardian reported, citing Ukrainian sources, that North Korea had dispatched dozens of military technicians to the front lines to support the operation of North Korean ballistic missiles sent to Russia.

South Korea is also closely monitoring the military alliance between Russia and North Korea.

“Since Russia and North Korea have a mutual agreement that is almost like a military alliance, we believe it is highly likely that [the North] will send troops,” South Korea’s Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun said on Oct. 8 during a National Assembly Defense Committee state audit.

On the other hand, a spokesperson for the Kremlin issued a statement on Thursday dismissing the rumors of North Korea’s involvement, including the dispatch of troops, as “fake news.”

As the war between Russia and Ukraine drags on, claims that a Russian fighter jet was shot down after an exchange with a Ukrainian fighter jet have been raised for the first time.

The Kyiv Post reported on Saturday that pro-Kremlin military bloggers "have claimed that [Ukrainian] F-16 fighter jets shot down a Russian Su-34 fighter jet that was dropping KAB glide bombs over the Ukrainian-occupied Kursk region in northwestern Russia.”

The Su-34 is a multipurpose, twin-engine, all-weather supersonic medium-range warplane that entered the Russian Air Force service in 2014.

The possibility of a Russian Su-34 fighter jet being shot down by Ukrainian fighter jets soon spread on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. There were also reports that the Russian pilot did not escape safely.

However, the two sides have not yet revealed their official positions. The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Sunday that it had deployed Su-34 fighter jets near the border in the Kursk region of western Russia and dropped glide bombs on Ukrainian military strongholds and areas where troops were concentrated, Reuters reported.

If the shooting down of the Russian fighter jet by Ukraine is confirmed, it would represent the first victory of the F-16 in Ukraine, local media say. It would also be the Ukrainian military's most significant accomplishment since its partial occupation of Russia's Kursk region on Aug. 6.

BY HAN JEE-HYE,LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]