Latest Ukraine Russia war: Some North Koreans ‘already in Ukraine’ as Kiev withdraws 160,000 troops

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the deployment of North Korean troops to the Ukraine conflict would likely escalate the war being waged by Russia.

These remarks were made yesterday in a telephone conversation with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office.

Trudeau said the war would have a greater impact on the security environment in Europe and the Indo-Pacific, according to Mr. Yoon’s office, and suggested closer cooperation between the two countries on the evolving situation.

“Prime Minister Trudeau said there is an increased likelihood that the Ukraine war will become more violent with the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia, which will have an impact on the overall security of Europe and the Indo-Pacific,” the office said in a statement. The statement was included.

His office said Mr. Yoon said the deployment of North Korean troops in the Ukraine conflict was faster than expected and created a dangerous situation.

Vladimir Putin did not deny that North Korean troops were involved in the war, but said it was up to Russia to decide how it would implement the association agreement that he and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed in June.

The mayor of the Ukrainian capital said that multiple explosions occurred in Kiev earlier today and a fire broke out as a result of a Russian drone attack.

“Emergency services are being dispatched to the area,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

Reuters witnesses heard a series of explosions that suggested air defense units were in action.

More details have been revealed about President Volodymyr Zelensky’s agreement with the South Korean president to step up contacts between their countries at all levels to develop countermeasures and a strategy to respond to North Korea’s intervention in the war in Ukraine.

In a telephone conversation with President Yoon Suk Yeol, Zelensky said the two leaders also agreed to strengthen the exchange of intelligence and expertise.

Zelensky said he shared data that 3,000 North Korean soldiers will be deployed to Russian training sites near the war zone, and their number is expected to rise to about 12,000.

“We agreed to strengthen the exchange of intelligence and expertise, intensify contacts at all levels, especially at the highest level, to develop an action strategy and countermeasures against this escalation and to engage our mutual partners in cooperation,” he said.

Ukraine’s president’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said Tuesday that he discussed the country’s victory plan and North Korea’s involvement in the war with U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

Commenting on his business trip to the USA, he added about X: “Military aid to Ukraine, sanctions against Russia and increasing pressure on Moscow’s allies are vital.”

The Pentagon said the United States would not impose new restrictions on Ukraine’s use of American weapons if North Korea joins Russia’s war.

Asked whether the United States would impose a limit on what American weapons could be used in the event of a group of North Korean troops, the Pentagon press secretary said: “No… If it is North Korea – if we see North Korean troops coming in and out of the battlefield. So they are fighting together in the war.” . “And so they are fighting on these front lines, and the Ukrainians are defending their sovereign territory and pushing the Russians back,” he said.

“…But if they are at war, you know, they are fighting Ukrainians who are fighting for their sovereign territory. “And we made a commitment to Ukraine that we will continue to support them at all costs,” he said.

Ms. Singh added that North Korea had sent its troops into a war where Russia’s casualties and casualties were “more than 500,000 at this point.”

“This, you know, is a calculation by the North Korean leadership to send its soldiers to war,” he said.

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov shrugged off NATO chief Mark Rutte’s comments about the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia, noting that Pyongyang and Moscow signed a joint security agreement last June.

But on Monday, North Korea stopped short of confirming that its troops were in Russia. Mr Lavrov claimed that Western military instructors had long been secretly deployed to Ukraine to help his army use long-range weapons supplied by Western partners.

Russia conducted missile tests at distances of thousands of kilometers on Tuesday to simulate a “massive” nuclear response to an enemy first strike.

“Given increasing geopolitical tensions and the emergence of new external threats and risks, it is important to have strategic forces that are modern and ready for continuous use,” President Vladimir Putin said in announcing the exercise.

It came at a critical moment in the Russia-Ukraine war, after weeks of Russian signals to the West that Moscow would respond if the United States and its allies allowed Kiev to fire long-range missiles deep into Russia.

On Monday, NATO said North Korea was sending troops to western Russia, which Moscow did not deny.

In televised remarks, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov told Putin that the purpose of the exercise was to practice carrying out “a major nuclear strike by strategic strike forces in response to the enemy’s nuclear attack.”

The exercise involved Russia’s entire nuclear “triad” of land-, sea- and air-launched missiles.

The Yars intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northwestern Russia towards Kamchatka, a peninsula in the far east. The defense ministry said Sineva and Bulava ballistic missiles were fired from submarines, while cruise missiles were fired from strategic bombers.

North Korean foreign minister Choe Son Hui is heading to Moscow for her second visit to Russia in six weeks, state media KCNA and Russian officials said today, as concerns grow about Pyongyang’s interference in Moscow’s war in Ukraine .

KCNA said a delegation led by Ms. Chloe left yesterday for an official visit to Russia, without providing details.

Russian Ambassador to Pyongyang Alexander Matsegora saw Ms. Choe off at the airport, the Russian embassy said in a statement published on the embassy’s Vkontakte social media page.

“The visit of the head of the foreign ministry of North Korea (the official name of North Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) to the Russian Federation takes place within the framework of strategic dialogue, following an agreement reached between the leaders of North Korea to improve ties. The statement said, “Our countries at the June 2024 summit.”

US defense secretary Lloyd Austin and secretary of state Antony Blinken will meet with their South Korean counterparts in Washington on Thursday.

Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said Mr. Austin and the defense secretary, Kim Yong-hyun, would discuss the deployment of North Korean troops in Ukraine.

Warning that there would be no restrictions on the use of US-supplied weapons in these forces, Ms Singh said: “If we see North Korean troops advancing towards the front lines, they are co-combatants in the war. This is a calculation that North Korea must make.”