About 8,000 North Korean soldiers are stationed in Russia on the border with Ukraine, the US secretary of state has said, warning that Moscow is preparing to deploy those troops into combat “in the coming days”.

Antony Blinken said the US believed that North Korea had sent 10,000 troops to Russia in total, deploying them first to training bases in the far east before sending the vast majority to the Kursk region on the border with Ukraine.

Blinken told a press conference that the North Korean troops had received Russian training in “artillery, UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles], basic infantry operations, including trench clearing, indicating that they fully intend to use these forces in frontline operations”.

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  • Nougat@fedia.io
    28·
    18 days ago

    Huh, another country is putting boots on the ground at the frontline in support of Russia? Sounds like other countries at least approving their weapons for use by Ukraine against targets inside Russia is more than warranted - if not sending their own boots on the ground.

    Pretty sure Poland would be up for it.

    • Albbi@lemmy.caEnglish
      8·
      18 days ago

      Sure would be interesting if Ukraine were given weapons to attack NK with. Never heard anything about NK declaring war or Ukraine declaring war due to this, but I imagine something has to happen.

      • Nougat@fedia.io
        7·
        18 days ago

        Yeah, that’s definitely another outstanding question: Does this make DPRK on the Korean peninsula a legitimate military target? Do they think so, and does this make them more likely to pre-emptively break the cease-fire with South Korea? Seems like that risk is higher, considering they destroyed transportation paths to the DMZ.