At this point it has become clear that Zelensky is trying to scare and blackmail the West into ramping up support to Ukraine, which includes a push allow NATO membership, and with loose talk of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons to boot.

Part of the fearmongering has also featured Zelensky’s insistence that a global coalition of enemies is now fighting Kiev. “The coalition of criminals along with Putin already includes North Korea,” Zelensky told his parliament in a speech this week. “Everyone sees the Iranian regime’s assistance to Putin, and also China’s cooperation with Russia.”

The next day, Thursday, Zelensky was in Brussels where he informed EU officials that North Korea is amassing a large amount of troops in Russia, readying them to fight in Ukraine.

“We know that there are 10,000 soldiers of North Korea, that they are preparing to send, fight against us,” he said in a briefing. This includes “land forces, other tactical personnel” and framed it as “the first step to a world war.”

“Because of the gap in mobilization, because of lots of Russian losses, and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is afraid of mobilisation very much . . . that is why he is trying to involve other participants in this war,” he added.

But as Financial Times has pointed out, Western intelligence finds these claims dubious:

Military analysts and Nato officials have cast doubt on the accuracy of reports that North Korean troops are involved in combat in eastern Ukraine. Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte said on Wednesday that the defence alliance had no “definitive” information on this matter.

The White House said on Tuesday it could not independently confirm the reports of North Korean troops fighting on behalf of Russia but “those reports are concerning to us”, according to National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.

On Friday, South Korean intelligence (the NIS) sought to vouch for Zelensky’s claims, saying it believes up to 12,000 North Korean troops are mustering in Russia, and that at least 1,500 have already arrived.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has highlighted the report Friday, issuing a call for international community must respond with “all available means”.

If indeed there were a surge of North Korean troops of this size into Eastern Europe, there would likely be photographic evidence, or at least leaked images of some kind. Pro-Kiev accounts have offered the following unverified images, sources and date unclear…

This is reportedly how North Korean soldiers are outfitted in Russian gear.

According to reports, this is the Sergievsky training ground in Russia’s Far East.

Soldiers from North Korea are fighting in Europe against a European country.
How will Europe react? https://t.co/IgoPAqqCOo pic.twitter.com/iMfAGZorEM

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) October 18, 2024

If true this would mark a major escalation of N.Korea’s involvement. “More North Korean troops could be deployed in the war,” Seoul had previously warned this much. But the West wouldn’t be able to do much, having already put fairly maximum sanctions on both Russia and North Korea. It could be another dangerous sign that the Ukraine war is getting more and more internationalized.