Zelensky says North Korea has decided to deploy 30,000–50,000 troops to Russia, urges Seoul to work more closely with Kyiv

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said North Korea has decided to send up to 50,000 additional troops to Russian territory.

Zelensky shared the contents of a local media interview on social media platform X on Sunday (local time), saying his intelligence services had reported in late July that Russia was preparing to receive North Korean troops at that scale.

"North Koreans keep appearing on Russian territory — first hundreds, then thousands, and now there is a new decision to deploy 30,000 to 50,000," he said.

Citing Ukrainian military intelligence, he also said North Korea-Russia military cooperation appeared to be accelerating, with Pyongyang supplying 40 ballistic missiles to Russia and beginning to deploy around 90 missile unit personnel.

He added that North Korea would gain modern warfare experience under Russian support and acquire military technology licenses from Moscow to secure a range of military equipment.

Zelensky stressed that South Korea, which faces North Korea across a divided peninsula, should work more closely with Ukraine. "Ukraine wants to receive South Korea's support in air defense systems, drones and other areas," he said.

"South Korea has legal constraints, but we are counting on cooperation and our diplomats are in contact," he added.

North Korea deployed 14,000 to 15,000 combat troops and combat engineers to Russia's Kursk region after Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed a mutual defense treaty in June 2024.

Meanwhile, reports emerged that Ukraine has expressed frustration over Japan's military support.

Japan's Sankei Shimbun reported Aug. 4 that Zelensky, at a meeting of Ukrainian ambassadors posted abroad, thanked Japan for its support but said "the expected results have not materialized" and that the scale of support "is not large relative to Japan's actual capabilities." He was also quoted as saying Ukraine wanted to strengthen its relationship with Japan, and that there had been "great expectations" following what appeared to be a reference to the launch of the Sanae Takaichi administration. "We need this," he said, according to the newspaper.