Over 600,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Monday.
Rutte also confirmed the deployment of North Korean soldiers to fight on the Russian side in Kursk, a region seized by Ukraine. Evidence of the soldiers’ presence in Russia has been building over the past few weeks.
The deployment is a sign of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “growing desperation,” Rutte said, adding that Putin is “unable to sustain his assault in Ukraine without foreign support.” Rutte denounced the “deepening military cooperation” between Moscow and Pyongyang and called on democracies to uphold their shared values and support Ukraine.
“NATO allies will continue to support a free and democratic Ukraine, because Ukraine’s security is our security,” he said.
NATO hosted a delegation of South Korean intelligence officials and Defence Ministry officials at the headquarters of the military alliance for a briefing on the situation to confirm the deployment.
The involvement of North Korean soldiers “undermines peace on the Korean Peninsula and fuels the Russian war against Ukraine,” Rutte said.
NATO calls on North Korea and Russia to “cease these actions immediately,” Rutte said.
The NATO secretary general said North Korea has already supplied Russia with millions of rounds of ammunition
and ballistic missiles and was fuelling a major conflict in Europe.
South Korea’s intelligence service last week told members of parliament that North Korea had already sent about 3,000 soldiers to Russia, the Yonhap news agency reported.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also confirmed that the United States had “evidence” that North Korean troops are in Russia but that it is not yet clear what they are doing. (DPA)
