Zelensky blasts West’s “zero reaction” to claim of North Korea’s deployment of troops in Russia

 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has lambasted his Western backers for their "zero response" to reports that North Korean troops were being sent to Russia.

For Zelensky, the lack of reaction would only encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin to bring even more North Korean soldiers to the frontlines.

"Putin is checking the reaction of the West … And I believe that after all these reactions, Putin will decide and increase the contingent … The reaction that is there today is nothing, it is zero," Zelensky said in an interview with South Korea's KBStelevision channel.

He added that he believes Putin was already trying to agree for Pyongyang to also send engineering troops and a "large number of civilians" to work at Russian military plants.

Zelensky publicly warned about the North Korean involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war as early as Oct. 13. According to the West, the deployment was a major escalation, but have not announced retaliatory measures.

The administration of outgoing United States President Joe Biden has confirmed that there are about 10,000 North Korean troops in Russia near the Ukrainian border. Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed that the U.S. has "not yet seen these troops deploy into combat against Ukrainian forces, but we would expect that to happen in the coming days."

In connection to this, South Korea offered intelligence assistance and wider cooperation on the matter and said it is considering sending a team of military monitors to Ukraine.

During a recent United Nations Security Council meeting, Ukraine's delegation named three North Korean generals who are accompanying thousands of Korean People's Army troops deployed to Russia. When asked about the issue, the Kremlin cited the military agreement Moscow and Pyongyang signed earlier this year that included a mutual defense clause.  

Meanwhile, Russia's envoy to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said North Korea had the right to help Russia in its war since the West is supporting Ukraine.

"Even if everything that's being said about the cooperation between Russia and North Korea by our Western colleagues is true, why is it that the United States and allies are trying to impose on everyone the flawed logic that they have the right to help the Zelensky regime … and Russian allies have no right to do a similar thing," he said.

North Korean troops being disguised as Russian troops in the frontlines

According to Ukraine's top officials, their troops have encountered North Korean soldiers "disguised" as Russian fighters from Siberia for the first time.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said that a "small group" of North Korean soldiers were attacked. "We have identified contact with North Korean forces, but we expect more engagements in the coming weeks, and we will analyze and review accordingly," Umerov added.

He also said there had been "small-scale clashes" so far between Ukrainian and North Korean troops, but that Ukraine could not yet verify how many casualties North Korea had sustained or how many soldiers had become prisoners of war.

The New York Times reported that an unnamed Ukrainian official said that the engagements involving North Korean troops were limited, probably intended to test Ukraine's lines for weak points.

Zelensky said these "first battles with North Korea open a new chapter of instability in the world."

The Ukrainian leader called on his nation "together with the world... [to do] everything to make this Russian step toward expanding the war a failure. Both for them, and for North Korea."