KCNA via REUTERS
- Ukraine has released a video it says shows North Korean troops in Russia.
- The video was published by the Ukrainian government's Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security.
- The center said the footage shows the troops "being outfitted in Russian gear."
A new video released by the Ukrainian government's Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security appears to show North Korean soldiers at a Russian military base.
The center said the footage shows North Korean troops "being outfitted in Russian gear" at Russia's Sergievsky training ground "in preparation for deployment to Ukraine."
Exclusive - Newly obtained footage from Russia's Sergievsky Training Ground showing North Korean troops being outfitted in Russian gear in preparation for deployment to Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/01Z4jZIiOe
— SPRAVDI — Stratcom Centre (@StratcomCentre) October 18, 2024
Business Insider was unable to independently verify the footage.
It comes after South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) said on Friday that thousands of North Korean troops were set to join Russian forces in Ukraine.
The NIS said that North Korean soldiers were being transported from the North on Russian navy ships and that around 1,500 North Korean special forces troops were already in Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at a NATO press conference on Thursday that Ukraine had information that North Korea was preparing to send 10,000 troops to occupied areas of Ukraine.
"We've got information that North Korea sent tactical personnel and officers to Ukraine on temporary occupied territories, and they are preparing on their land, 10,000 soldiers, but they didn't move them already to Ukraine or to Russia," he said.
Speaking in Brussels on Friday, NATO chief Mark Rutte said: "Our official position is that we cannot confirm reports that North Koreans are actively now as soldiers engaged in the war effort."
"Even if North Korea is not physically there at the battlefield, then still they are helping to fuel Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine in every way they can," Rutte added.
Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said the US was "looking into" the claims.
"We can't confirm or corroborate those reports," he said on Thursday. "If true, that would demonstrate an increase in the cooperation between Russia and North Korea."
Should North Korean troops' involvement in the conflict be confirmed, it would mark North Korea's first major involvement in a war since the Korean War in 1950-1953.