Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, said on October 17 that North Korea was preparing 10,000 soldiers from different branches and specializations for Russia‘s full scale war against Ukraine.
His statement came just days after a Western Diplomat told the Kyiv Independent newspaper that Pyongyang sent 10,000 soldiers to Russia. Zelensky stated that Moscow intends to “actually engage” North Korea in war in the coming month.
At a press briefing in Brussels, President Putin said that Russia plans to train and recruit not only infantry, but also North Korean specialists for various branches of military.
He added, “We know that they are preparing to deploy about 10,000 soldiers to fight against us.”
According to military intelligence reports, some North Korean officers have already joined the Russian Army in the occupied territories. Zelensky said that the number of officers is unknown.
According to Zelensky the participation of North Korean forces in the Russian war is “the first step towards a World War.”
Moscow and Pyongyang are stepping up their military cooperation, as Russia looks for arms and other forms of support to help it wage a full-scale war on Ukraine. North Korea has been supplying Russia massive quantities of artillery and ballistic missiles.
Iran is another Russian ally that aids Moscow in its aggression towards Ukraine. Tehran has supplied Russia with thousands Shahed Kamikaze drones which are used to launch daily attacks in Ukraine.
“Iran gave (Russian) drones, licenses to produce these drones and rockets. But not people and not officially. “We can see the first step of this war,” Zelensky said.
The legislation approved by the parliament in December was pushed through under pressure from Western partners as well as Ukrainian business associations. The reform is also an important step towards Kyiv’s EU accession.
According to military intelligence, North Korean officials are already in the occupied territory of Ukraine.
“There will not be a war like the one of 1953.” I’m talking about the Korean War. It ended in summer of 2023 in Ukraine when two professional armies with more than a half million personnel each faced off on the battlefield,” said Valerii Zaluzhnyi. He is the current ambassador to the U.K. and former commander-in chief of Ukraine.
In response to a Kyiv Independent journalist, the Ukrainian ambassador to the U.K. Valerii Zaluzhyni stated that Ukraine needed to change its approach to mobilisation because it still carries Soviet influences. However, much more time was required for a reform to be completed, he said.
“We end up in a protracted state of war.” In my opinion, a protracted war is almost impossible to end, said Valerii Zaluzhnyi. He was Ukraine’s former commander in chief and newly appointed ambassador to the U.K.
On October 17, President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that the victory plan included placing conventional missile capability in Ukraine, which would either force Russia into negotiations or destroy their military targets.
Dmytro Plenchuk, a Ukrainian Navy spokesperson, said that just because Russia deploys cruise missile carriers on the sea does not mean the ships will be used in an attack.
On October 17, President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Brussels to present his five point victory plan to Charles Michel, the president of the European Council.
The Ukrainian Southern Defense Forces revealed and attacked a Russian military training facility on October 15, posting footage of the attack.
The move was made after Russia and China blocked monitoring activities at United Nations. In March, Moscow vetoed a renewal of the panel of U.N. experts monitoring sanctions against Pyongyang for its nuclear and missile programs.
The German Air Force announced on October 16 that the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft of Germany were scrambled because a Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft was flying over the international waters in the Baltic Sea.
The Air Force reported that Ukrainian air defenses destroyed 22 of the 65 attack robots launched overnight. Two drones flew towards Belarus and 27 were destroyed by electronic warfare.
Pokrovske coal mining is located 10 km (6miles) west of Pokrovsk. It is the largest coal mine in Ukraine, and one of the biggest in Eastern Europe.
This includes 1,420 casualties that Russian forces have suffered in the last day.
Nikita Klinkov, deputy commander of an intelligence unit for the Russian military intelligence agency GRU, was killed in Moscow Oblast on October 16 by an unknown assailant. This was reported by Russian state-controlled media.
The White House has rescheduled the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting for November in a virtually based setting, after U.S. president Joe Biden cancelled all his foreign trips this month due to the effects of multiple hurricanes in the United States.
Voice of America reported that Smith stated, “We are not in a stage where the Alliance will be discussing issuing an invite in the near future.” Smith was speaking ahead of a NATO meeting of defense ministers in Brussels.
The Guardian reported that U.K. counterterrorism officials are investigating if Russian intelligence agents planted an incendiary inside a parcel which caught fire in a warehouse near Birmingham. The Guardian reported on Oct. 16 that U.K. counter-terrorism officials are investigating whether Russian intelligence officers planted an incendiary device inside a parcel that caught fire at a warehouse near Birmingham.
Mark Rutte, Secretary General of NATO, announced that the next meeting between the Ukraine and NATO Council will be held on October 17. The meeting will include defense ministers of NATO member states and Ukraine’s Rustem Umerov, the country’s Minister of Defense.
The White House released a statement saying that the new package would include “additional capabilities in air defense, air-to ground munitions, armored cars, and critical munitions for Ukraine’s urgent requirements.”
According to unnamed sources cited by RBC-Ukraine, the individual in question is Oleh Hrybenko. He is reportedly responsible, according to the media outlet, for maintaining the security at critical infrastructure facilities.
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