Newsweek, citing South Korean TV network TV Chosun on October 22, reported that North Korea had dispatched pilots capable of flying Russian warplanes in order to join the conflict in Ukraine.
According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Moscow plans to include Pyongyang into the full-scale conflict against Ukraine in the next few months, and around 10,000 North Koreans are preparing to join the Russian Army.
Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s chief of military intelligence, said earlier in October the first group of 2,600 troops would be deployed in Russia’s Kursk oblast. This is where Ukraine began an cross-border incursion into Russia in August and still controls significant territory.
North Korea has denied sending troops to join Russia in the war in Ukraine.
According to TV Chosun, a government official in South Korea said that North Korea sent fighter pilots in Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East ahead of its first deployment of ground troops on October 8.
This could mean that pilots will be trained on Russian combat aircraft.
If the report is true, Russia will be the first country to host North Korean pilots outside of their country since the Vietnam War. They had also participated in combat operations against the Syrian and Egyptian forces during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
On October 15, a Western official told Kyiv Independent that 10,000 North Korean soldiers were already in Russia. Kyrylo Budanov of Ukraine’s HUR Military Intelligence Service put the number at 11, and said that they would be “ready for battle” by November 1.
Online, a video purporting to show them at a Russian military training camp has also surfaced.
Moscow and Pyongyang are enhancing their military cooperation, as Russia looks for arms and other support to wage a full-scale war on Ukraine.
North Korea also supplies Russia with vast quantities of artillery and ballistic missiles.
“I am grateful for the trust of the President of Ukraine and Verkhovna Rada. In this situation, however, I think it’s right for me to step down from the position of prosecutor general,” said he.
According to the draft prepared this year by Italy, the G7 leaders will release a joint declaration in October saying “Russia’s assets will remain frozen until Russia ends its aggressive behavior and pays for damage it has done to Ukraine.”
Zelensky, in a conversation with journalists, did not exclude the possibility that “some partners” might consider Ukraine’s NATO membership in exchange for occupied territories. “We don’t discuss this,” he said.
Zelensky, who was speaking at a Kyiv Independent-sponsored meeting, was asked about Pyongyang’s growing support for Moscow. In recent days, it is reported that the support has gone from weapons to boots on ground.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, said that Washington also plans to provide $800 millions as a first tranche for the manufacture of Ukrainian drones.
BRICS is a grouping of emerging economies that includes Russia, China, India and Brazil.
This is Pyongyang’s first public response to multiple reports from Kyiv or Seoul about such a deployment.
The loan will go towards Ukraine’s military expenditures. Kyiv can invest in key equipment for fighting Russia, including artillery, air defence, and wider equipment support.
The Air Force reported that Ukrainian forces destroyed 46 of 60 Shahed drones launched overnight by Russia.
A government source told South Korean news agency Yonhap that, “While watching for signs of North Korea and Russia military cooperation, response measures will be taken step by step.”
Russian local authorities claim that Ukrainian drones attacked four Russian plants, including three distilleries, overnight on October 22, including in the oblasts of Tula, Tambov, and Voronezh.
In an interview with Wladyslaw Bartoszewsk, Polish Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs on October 21, Wladyslaw T. Bartoszewsk stated that Warsaw wants to review the classified additions made to Ukraine’s recent victory plan presented by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
This includes 1,350 casualties that Russian forces have suffered in the last day.
The Donetsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office reported on October 21 that Russian soldiers executed two captured Ukrainians near Selydove, in Donetsk Oblast.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces of Sudan (RSF) claim to have shot down an cargo plane in Darfur. It is speculated that Russians were on board.
Zelensky stated in his evening speech that “every meeting with our partners includes discussions about the Defense-Industrial Complex.” “We need Ukraine’s ability to defend its independence and sovereignty regardless of any threats from the outside world,” Zelensky said in his evening address.
Sandu stated on X that “the people of Moldova have spoken. Our EU future will be now anchored in our constitution.” “We fought fairly and won an unfair battle. The fight isn’t yet over. “We will continue to push for peace, prosperity and the freedom to create our own future.”
“Your unwavering commitment is not just an act of friendship. It’s a powerful sign of the shared values which bind our nations,” said Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s defense minister, alongside U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
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