BRUSSELS: Russia is preparing to deploy 10,000 North Korean soldiers in the fight against Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday, citing intelligence information.
Zelensky has previously accused North Korea of sending troops to Russia’s army but this was the first time he gave an exact figure.
An unspecified number of North Korean soldiers were already on “occupied Ukrainian territory from the side of Russian enemies,” Zelensky said, based on “information from our intelligence.”
“We know (of) about 10,000 soldiers of North Korea that they are preparing to send fight against us,” he added, speaking to reporters in Brussels after talks with EU leaders.
The Ukrainian leader was attending both an EU leaders’ summit and a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels as he presses for support for his “victory plan” to end the war against Russia.
Zelensky said the North Korean troops included “land forces” and “other tactical personnel.”
“This is the first step to a world war,” he warned, noting that Iran was also backing Russia with “drones and missiles,” a claim that Tehran has repeatedly denied.
He said Russian President Vladimir Putin was “counting” on the North Korean soldiers because he was “afraid of mobilization.”
Zelensky conducted a whirlwind tour of Western capitals earlier this month including Washington, Paris, Berlin, Rome and London to promote his initiative.
Experts have long said North Korean missiles are being deployed in Ukraine by Russian forces, which both Moscow and Pyongyang have denied.
Putin made a rare visit to Pyongyang in June, where he signed a mutual defense agreement with leader Kim Jong Un.
Moscow and Pyongyang have been allies since North Korea’s founding after World War II and have drawn closer since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine says Russia to deploy 10,000 North Korean troops
https://arab.news/469vc
Ukraine says Russia to deploy 10,000 North Korean troops
- Zelensky has previously accused North Korea of sending troops to Russia’s army but this was the first time he gave an exact figure
- An unspecified number of North Korean soldiers were already on “occupied Ukrainian territory from the side of Russian enemies“
Bangladesh’s religio-political party open to unity govt
- Opinion polls suggest that Jamaat-e-Islami will finish a close second to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the first election it has contested in nearly 17 years
DHAKA: A once-banned Bangladeshi religio-political party, poised for its strongest electoral showing in February’s parliamentary vote, is open to joining a unity government and has held talks with several parties, its chief said.
Opinion polls suggest that Jamaat-e-Islami will finish a close second to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the first election it has contested in nearly 17 years as it marks a return to mainstream politics in the predominantly Muslim nation of 175 million.
Jamaat last held power between 2001 and 2006 as a junior coalition partner with the BNP and is open to working with it again.
“We want to see a stable nation for at least five years. If the parties come together, we’ll run the government together,” Jamaat chief Shafiqur Rahman said in an interview at his office in a residential area in Dhaka, days after the party created a buzz by securing a tie-up with a Gen-Z party.
Rahman said anti-corruption must be a shared agenda for any unity government.
The prime minister will come from the party winning the most seats in the Feb. 12 election, he added. If Jamaat wins the most seats, the party will decide whether he himself would be a candidate, Rahman said.
The party’s resurgence follows the ousting of long-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a youth-led uprising in August 2024.
Rahman said Hasina’s continued stay in India after fleeing Dhaka was a concern, as ties between the two countries have hit their lowest point in decades since her downfall.
Asked about Jamaat’s historical closeness to Pakistan, Rahman said: “We maintain relations in a balanced way with all.”
He said any government that includes Jamaat would “not feel comfortable” with President Mohammed Shahabuddin, who was elected unopposed with the Awami League’s backing in 2023.
