Zelensky claims Russia wants to bring another 30,000 North Korean troops to fight in war

By Reuters 25 July 2026, 9:10 pm

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says that Russia wants to bring in 30,000 North Korean troops to take part in its more than four-year-old conflict and is already preparing to receive them.

“We also see Russia’s cooperation with North Korea. Russia wants to bring in another 30,000 North Korean troops,” Zelensky says in his nightly video address. “Preparations have been under way in Russia’s Voronezh region since June to receive them.”

Under a mutual defense pact between the two countries, North Korea sent some 14,000 soldiers to fight alongside Russia in Kursk region in 2024 after a major Ukrainian incursion into the area.