KYIV: A video purporting to show dozens of North Korean recruits lining up to collect Russian military fatigues and gear aims to intimidate Ukrainian forces and marks a new chapter in the 2 1/2-year war with the introduction of another country into the battlefield, Ukrainian officials said.
In the video, which was verified by Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security, which operates under the Culture and Information Ministry, presumably North Korean soldiers stand in line to pick up bags, clothes and other apparel from Russian servicemen. The Associated Press could not verify the video independently.
“We received this video from our own sources. We cannot provide additional verification from the sources who provided it to us due to security concerns,” said Ihor Solovey, head of the center.
“The video clearly shows North Korean citizens being given Russian uniforms under the direction of the Russian military,” he said. “For Ukraine, this video is important because it is the first video evidence that shows North Korea participating in the war on the side of Russia. Now not only with weapons and shells but also with personnel.”
The center claims the footage was shot by a Russian soldier in recent days.
It comes after the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said in local media reports that about 11,000 North Korean infantrymen were currently training in eastern Russia. He predicted they would be ready to join fighting by November. At least 2,600 would be sent to Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukraine launched an incursion in August, he was quoted as saying.
“The emergence of any number of new soldiers is a problem because we will simply need new, additional weapons to destroy them all,” Solovey told AP. “The dissemination of this video is important as a signal to the world community that with two countries officially at war against Ukraine, we will need more support to repel this aggression.”
The presence of North Korean soldiers in Ukraine, if true, would be another proof of intensified military ties between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Last summer, they signed a strategic partnership treaty that commits both countries to provide military assistance. North Korean weapons have already been used in the Ukraine war.
Video published by Ukraine purports to show North Korean soldiers in Russia
https://arab.news/w4ryg
Video published by Ukraine purports to show North Korean soldiers in Russia
- In the video, presumably North Korean soldiers stand in line to pick up bags, clothes and other apparel from Russian servicemen
- “We cannot provide additional verification from the sources who provided it to us due to security concerns,” said Ihor Solovey, head of the center
Protests across globe mark one week of Iran war
- In Washington DC, demonstrators gathered at the National Mall carrying US, Israeli and Iranian flags, with some protesters painting the colors of the Iranian flags on their cheeks
- Several counter-protesters carried signs denouncing Israel and in support of the Palestinians
PARIS, France: Lion-emblazoned flags of pre-revolution Iran fluttered in cities across the world on Saturday as demonstrators took to the streets a week after the start of the war in the Middle East.
Europe, Africa and the Americas saw demonstrations, with some protesting against Iran’s Islamic regime, others railing against the war, and some in support of Iran’s late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the first US-Israeli strikes of the conflict.
Paris saw two demonstrations: one supporting the US-based Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late shah, to head up a transition, and another denouncing that scenario.
“I support Pahlavi who is calling for a revolution,” Masoud Ghanaatian, 35, a student, told AFP at a protest in southern Paris, where participants carried photos of the late shah’s son and waved US, Israeli and pre-revolution Iran flags.
“He’s a democrat. He can oversee a transition and promises to organize elections.”
Hundreds of pro-Pahlavi demonstrations also gathered in Stockholm, holding up pictures of him and his late father.
But farther north, protesters wearing yellow vests reading “Free Iran” showed off stickers on their hands that read “No Shah, no Mullah.”
In Amsterdam protesters snaked along one of the city’s canals, holding up Israeli, American and pre-revolution Iran flags, as they called on the government to invite Pahlavi to the country and to close the Iranian embassy.
In Israel, anti-war activists and police scuffled during a protest against eh war in HaBima Square in Tel Aviv.
Shortly after dawn in Britain, anti-war protesters gathered at the entrance of an air force base in Fairford, southwest of England, holding signs reading “Hands off Iran,” “Peace” and “Yanks go home.”
- ‘Assassins’ -
A demonstrations against the war also took place in Cyprus.
Outside the US consulate in Mexico City, protesters carried a placard with pictures of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with blood-soaked palms over the word “Assassins” and kicked pinatas with images of the two leaders.
In the United States, protesters carried Iranian, Lebanese and Palestinian flags and signs “Iran is not our enemy” and “No war on Iran” in downtown Detroit, Michigan.
In Washington DC, demonstrators gathered at the National Mall carrying US, Israeli and Iranian flags, with some protesters painting the colors of the Iranian flags on their cheeks.
In Boston, Iranian Americans gathered at Copley Square to call for the fall of the Islamic republic.
In South Africa — which has dragged Israel to International Court of Justice, accusing it of genocide during the Gaza war, a charge Israel denies — dozens gathered in front of the US consulate in Johannesburg, holding up photos of Khamenei, the Islamic republic’s flag and signs bashing Israel.
Protesters carried pictures of Khamenei and denounced the war in central Tunis in Tunisia.
In Cape Town, Iranian pro-democracy activists and supporters of Israel waved Israeli flags and chanted slogans in the Albert Waterfront shopping mall.
Several counter-protesters carried signs denouncing Israel and in support of the Palestinians.
