North Korean troops sent to support Russia in the war against Ukraine are stationed mainly in Russia's Kursk region but could be deployed to other areas where counterattacks are needed, a Russian official said.
Rodion Miroshnik, ambassador-at-large at Russia's Foreign Ministry, made the remarks in a recent interview with Hong Kong's Phoenix Television, the broadcaster reported on the 2nd, local time. "The front line is not limited to the four new regions that previously belonged to Ukraine," he said.
Miroshnik said that under the Russian constitution, all of those regions are Russian territory, and that North Korean soldiers are deployed mainly in the Kursk region, part of Russia's pre-existing territory. "According to the information we have, North Korean troops are mainly involved in eliminating the consequences of Ukraine's incursion into the Kursk region, but that does not mean they cannot be used in other areas of military operations," he said.
Asked whether North Korean troops could be used elsewhere, he said they could be deployed to any area where a response to Ukrainian attacks is required, under decisions by Russia's Defense Ministry and within the framework of the bilateral treaty between Moscow and Pyongyang. He also argued that cooperation between the two countries is a legal act under a close bilateral framework, and that North Korean troops entering any territory within Russia would be consistent with international law.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sept. 28 that more than 8,000 North Korean troops were on Russian soil and that preparations were under way to deploy an additional 10,000.
Miroshnik also said Ukraine could increase its use of foreign mercenaries as its manpower is depleted, calling that a violation of international treaties, and put the current number of mercenaries at the front at about 7,000. "Ninety percent of the military supplies Ukraine now uses come from Europe and its satellite states," he said. "If that support is cut off, the war will end within three to four months."
Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, made remarks that appeared to warn of the possible use of nuclear weapons in Europe. According to CNN, Putin told scholars of foreign policy and international affairs at the Valdai Discussion Club in Moscow on the 1st that Russia would consider using "all the weapons" at its disposal if Kaliningrad, on the Baltic Sea, were attacked.
The warning was directed at recent military exercises by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization near Kaliningrad. Putin did not use the word "nuclear," but his reference to "all the weapons" was read as a warning to the West that nuclear arms could be brought into play.
Kaliningrad is Russian territory but is separated from the Russian mainland. It borders Lithuania to the north and east, Poland to the south and the Baltic Sea to the west. Russia has stationed Iskander missiles, which are capable of carrying nuclear warheads, in the exclave.
In a letter to NATO on Sept. 30, Russia explicitly invoked nuclear weapons, saying it was prepared to use all military force and means, including nuclear arms, to defend its territory if member states made any attempt to isolate Kaliningrad from the rest of the country.
