U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters Wednesday there is evidence that North Korean soldiers are in Russia, and that what they are doing there is “left to be seen.”
His comments came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his government had information that two North Korean military units were training in Russia for potential combat in Ukraine.
Austin cited a “strengthened relationship” between Russia and North Korea, noting that North Korea has provided weapons to Russia.
"If they're co-belligerents, if their intention is to participate in this war on Russia's behalf, that is a very, very serious issue, and it will have impacts not only in Europe, it will also impact things in the Indo-Pacific as well,” Austin said.
Austin also highlighted Russian casualties in the war it launched with a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, saying the North Korea development is an indication that Russian President Vladimir Putin “may be in even more trouble than most people realize.”
Zelenskyy said Tuesday that Ukraine expects a “firm, concrete response from the world.”
“If North Korea can intervene in the war in Europe, then the pressure on this regime is definitely not strong enough,” Zelenskyy said. “And if Russia is still able to expand and prolong this war, it means that everyone in the world who is still not helping to force Russia into peace is actually helping Putin to wage war.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday it destroyed 14 Ukrainian aerial drones in areas along the Ukraine-Russia border, as well as four uncrewed Ukrainian boats in the Black Sea.
The ministry said Russian air defenses destroyed 10 drones over Russia-occupied Crimea, and another four over the Rostov region.
Russian forces carried out a second consecutive night of heavy drone attacks targeting the Sumy region in southern Ukraine.
The Sumy regional military administration said Wednesday that Ukrainian air defenses shot down 19 Russian drones, a night after Ukraine downed 25 drones in the same area.
Officials in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk and Mykolaiv regions also reported drones being shot down overnight.
Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
