The US said for the first time on Wednesday that it had seen evidence of North Korean troops in Russia, and South Korean legislators said about 3,000 soldiers had been sent to support the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine, with more to follow.
The Biden administration was trying to provide Ukraine with $10-billion in military aid as part of its $20-billion commitment to the country under a $50-billion loan coordinated with the G7 and European Union, said the White House National Security Council on Wednesday.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi used a BRICS summit in Russia on Wednesday to showcase ambitions for a more harmonious relationship between the world’s two most populous countries after years of animosity.
US says evidence shows North Korea has troops in Russia
The US said for the first time on Wednesday that it had seen evidence of North Korean troops in Russia, and South Korean legislators said about 3,000 soldiers had been sent to support the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine, with more to follow.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, speaking in Rome, said it would be “very, very serious” if the North Koreans were preparing to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine, as Kyiv has alleged, though he said it remained to be seen what they would be doing there.
“There is evidence that there are DPRK troops in Russia,” Austin told reporters, using North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
In Seoul, South Korean legislators said that North Korea had sent 3,000 troops to Russia and thousands more were expected to follow.
Pyongyang had promised to provide a total of about 10,000 troops, whose deployment was expected to be completed by December, the legislators told reporters after being briefed by South Korea’s national intelligence agency.
The figure of 3,000 is twice the previous estimate of the number of North Korean troops already in Russia.
“Signs of troops being trained inside North Korea were detected in September and October,” said Park Sun-won, a member of a parliamentary intelligence committee, after the briefing.
“It appears that the troops have now been dispersed to multiple training facilities in Russia and are adapting to the local environment.”
The US believed at least 3,000 North Korean troops were undergoing training at military bases in eastern Russia, said White House national security spokesperson John Kirby on Wednesday.
The US determined the North Korean soldiers were transported by ship in early-to-mid October from North Korea’s Wonsan region to the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, said Kirby.
Then, they were taken to multiple military training sites in eastern Russia.
The latest numbers came after Seoul’s National Intelligence Service said on Friday the North had sent some 1,500 special forces personnel to Russia by ship and they were likely to be deployed for combat in the war in Ukraine after training and acclimatisation.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has also accused Pyongyang of preparing to send 10,000 soldiers to Russia. On Tuesday he called on his allies to respond to evidence of North Korean involvement in Russia’s war.
Nato allies were consulting on the North Korean deployment to Russia, said a Nato spokesperson.
“The North Atlantic Council will receive a briefing from [South Korea] and further discuss this matter soon,” said spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah.
US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say Russia has suffered more than 600,000 killed or wounded troops in the war in Ukraine.
Austin said the alleged North Korean deployment could point to a shortage of Russian recruits.
“This is an indication that he [Russian President Vladimir Putin] may be even in more trouble than most people realise,” said Austin.
In Berlin, Germany summoned North Korea’s charge d’affaires on Wednesday over concerns about the troop deployment.
“Should reports be true on North Korean soldiers in Ukraine and should North Korea now be supporting the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine with troops, this would be serious and in violation of international law,” said the German foreign ministry.
US wants half of its $20bn loan to Ukraine to be military aid
The Biden administration was trying to provide Ukraine with $10-billion in military aid as part of its $20-billion commitment to the country under a $50-billion loan coordinated with the G7 and European Union, said the White House National Security Council on Wednesday.
Group of Seven countries immobilised Russia’s sovereign assets in their jurisdictions after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
As part of the G7 package, President Joe Biden said: “We will provide $20-billion in loans to Ukraine that will be paid back by the interest earned from immobilised Russian sovereign assets. In other words, Ukraine can receive the assistance it needs now, without burdening taxpayers.”
The US plans to disperse $10-billion by December as economic aid, but needs US legislators’ approval for an additional $10-billion in the form of military assistance, said the White House National Security Council on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that G7 and European Union allies were “very close” to finalising their overall Ukraine loans, which would be backed by the frozen Russian assets.
The income used to repay these loans will be generated from interest earned on the roughly $300-billion in frozen Russian assets held mostly in the European Union.
Speaking at the start of International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings, Yellen said she was confident the Russian sovereign assets would remain immobilised despite the need for EU renewal of the freeze every six months.
Putin scores BRICS win with rare Xi and Modi show of harmony
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi used a BRICS summit in Russia on Wednesday to showcase ambitions for a more harmonious relationship between the world’s two most populous countries after years of animosity.
The meeting between Xi and Modi, who have not held formal talks for five years, was one highlight of a summit that Putin sought to use to show that the West had failed to isolate Russia over the Ukraine war.
A final communique listed a number of projects aimed at facilitating trade between BRICS nations — including an alternative payment system to the dollar — but did not include details or timelines.
Just two days after New Delhi announced that it had reached a deal with Beijing to resolve a four-year military stand-off on their disputed Himalayan frontier, Xi told Modi that they should enhance communication and cooperation and effectively manage differences.
“It is in the fundamental interests of the two countries and peoples for China and India to correctly grasp the trend of history and the direction of development of their relations,” said Xi, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
In response, Modi told Xi that maintaining peace and stability on their frontier should be a priority and that mutual trust, respect and sensitivity should be the basis of the relationship.
“We welcome the agreement on the issues that had come up over the last four years,” Modi told Xi in comments that were aired on India’s state broadcaster Doordarshan.
BRICS — an idea thought up inside Goldman Sachs two decades ago to describe the growing economic clout of China and other major emerging markets — is now a group that accounts for 45% of the world’s population and 35% of the global economy.
Modi told Putin in public that he wanted peace in Ukraine. Xi discussed the war in the Ukraine behind closed doors with the Kremlin chief, as did United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan who has sought to mediate.
The 43-page final communique from the summit ranged from geopolitics and narcotics to artificial intelligence and even the preservation of big cats, but lacked detail on some major issues. It mentioned Ukraine just once.
Hungary’s Orbán accuses EU of trying to topple him
Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán alleged on Wednesday that the European Union executive was trying to overthrow his government and impose a “puppet” administration on Budapest, likening his protest to the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising.
Orbán, who faces the most acute threat to his 14-year rule as an opposition party led by a political newcomer has surged in the polls, spoke to supporters on the anniversary of the revolt against Soviet domination that was crushed by the Red Army.
The Hungarian premier, who has repeatedly clashed with EU leaders, most recently in the European Parliament earlier this month, said in a speech that his sovereign policies relating to the Ukraine war and migration were unacceptable to Brussels.
“We know they want to force us into the war [in Ukraine], that they want to impose their migrants upon us … and hand over our children to gender activists,” he said in a speech from a stage set up in Budapest’s Millenaris Park.
“We know that they’ve got a puppet government [in mind], the party they want to impose on us,” said Orbán, alluding to the new centre-right, pro-EU Tisza party of Peter Magyar, who addressed a rally of more than 10,000 people later in the day.
Hours before his speech, a new poll indicated that Tisza had overtaken Orban’s hard right, anti-immigrant Fidesz party among decided voters, the first time an opposition party has managed to do so since Orbán rose to power in 2010.
The next national election is due in early 2026. Magyar said his party would start selecting its candidates soon.
War-scarred Ukrainians receive aesthetic treatment for free
Before the war, Ukrainian soldier Yana Zalevska had plans for plastic surgery to enhance her appearance.
But when a Russian drone struck her dugout in eastern Ukraine in August, tearing up her face and hands, she needed surgery for very different reasons.
“I am not scared of scars,” said the 23-year-old drone pilot. “I understand that this can be fixed and that I’ll get help to get over it.”
Zalevska is among the more than 200 wounded troops and civilians who have been treated by a network of aesthetic medicine specialists across Ukraine, healing the badly scarred and burned free of charge.
Russia’s February 2022 invasion grinds on with no end in sight, striking village after village along the sprawling frontline and producing a steady stream of casualties among both soldiers and civilians.
Much of the fighting is reminiscent of last century’s wars, marked by trench combat and artillery duels that often result in shredded limbs.
Drone warfare, meanwhile, brings danger closer than ever before.
Doctors of the Ukrainian volunteer organisation Unburned were able to remove the shrapnel that peppered Zalevska’s face and hands and are currently treating her scars. She said she would be able to fly drones again because feeling had returned to her fingers.
Maksym Turkevych, the CEO of Unburned, said his privately funded programme offers more than just aesthetic treatment by improving the overall quality of life in patients with more severe wounds.
Around half of amputees have scars on their stumps, for example, making it uncomfortable and sometimes unbearable to wear prosthetic legs, he said.
“We are talking not only about ... how the person looks,” said Turkevych. “Very often, we are talking about how the person moves,” he said.
Oleksandr Chaika, an acrobatics instructor from Kyiv who volunteered to fight, is receiving treatment at the site of his amputated leg, lost when a tank shell hit his trench.
He says he deals with “hellish” pain.
He believes high-quality care would be an important physical and psychological boost for many of his former comrades-in-arms, including those with wounds on their face.
“They start to develop insecurities, they are afraid to look people in the eye because of their wounds,” said Chaika (35). “I wouldn’t want them to shut off.”
Finland warns of hostile activities by Russia
Finland was experiencing suspicious acts of sabotage and disruption and believed Russia was engaged in broad-ranging influence operations against it and other European countries, said Finland’s Minister of Interior Lulu Ranne.
Nato and Western intelligence services, including Finland’s, have warned that Russia is behind a growing number of hostile activities across the Euro-Atlantic area, ranging from repeated cyber attacks to Moscow-linked arson — all of which Russia denies.
“We are experiencing disruptions, acts of sabotage, various types of damage, and instrumentalised migration, among other things. This creates a general sense of uncertainty and vagueness about what is true and what is not,” Ranne told reporters.
She said investigations into many of the cases were ongoing.
“However, based on the information from both civilian and military intelligence, we have clear indications pointing to Russia,” she said, adding the link was most evident in GPS interference Finland had witnessed in its maritime and air traffic.
“Currently, Russia is the main entity engaging in broad-ranging influence operations against us,” she said. DM