While NATO and Ukraine’s Western allies this week officially confirmed the participation of North Korean soldiers in Russia’s war against Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky now estimates that the total number of North Korean troops is approaching the 12,000 men.

Zelensky warned that there were already around 3,000 North Korean troops on Russian territory and that another 9,000 were expected soon.

“We think they will soon have 12,000,” Zelensky said at a news conference in Iceland on Monday, AFP reported.

His chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, added on social media: “This is an escalation. Sanctions alone are not enough. We need weapons and a clear plan to prevent North Korea from getting further involved in the war in Europe.”

“The enemy understands force,” Yema wrote. “Our allies have this strength.”

Yermak was responding to comments from NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who, after speaking with South Korean military intelligence officials, confirmed on Monday the presence of Pyongyang infantrymen in Eastern Europe.

Rutte also reported that more than 600,000 Russian troops have been killed or injured since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. He stressed that Moscow was unable to maintain its “special operation” which has lasted for years without foreign aid.

On Monday, US President Joe Biden’s administration also approved the estimated 10,000 North Korean troops participating in the war and warned Pyongyang’s allies in China that their support for the deployment, and the illegal invasion of Moscow in general would be “destabilizing” and “very dangerous”.

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North Korean defectors offer to support Ukrainian Psyops against their former comrades

Defectors can leverage their military expertise and understanding of their compatriots’ culture to disrupt and weaken the resolve of North Korean soldiers on the battlefield.

“We believe that (North Korea) has sent about 10,000 troops in total for training in eastern Russia, which will likely reinforce Russian forces near Ukraine in the coming weeks,” he said. Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh during a press conference.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller added that Beijing should be “concerned about this destabilizing action by two of its neighbors, Russia and North Korea.”

Moscow bombs explode iconic Kharkiv skyscraper, injuring six civilians

The Kharkiv regional governor reported Monday that Russian airstrikes had destroyed the iconic Derzhprom building in the region’s capital, a UNESCO-identified skyscraper that has become the symbol of Ukraine’s second-largest city. It is one of the sites on UNESCO’s tentative list of monuments likely to be included in the world heritage list, AFP reported.

“There was a direct impact on the Derzhprom building,” regional governor Oleg Synegubov wrote on Telegram, posting photos showing a hole cut in the facade, blown out windows and broken interiors. The building also suffered minor damage during a missile attack in January this year.

“With this attack, initially thought to have been carried out by guided bombs, the occupiers struck an iconic symbol of the city that all Kharkiv residents know,” the governor said. “It is a monument of national importance, a building in the constructivist style,” he added.

The modernist building was inaugurated in 1928, AFP described, a complex of state administrative buildings connected by skybridges. It is considered one of the first Soviet skyscrapers, a precursor to Moscow’s famous “Seven Sisters”, Stalinist skyscrapers completed between 1952 and 1957 and at the time the tallest buildings in Europe. (The tallest, which still houses Moscow State University, has 36 floors.)

The attack injured at least six people and damaged the building of a medical facility.

Sweden announces 63 million euros for Ukraine, via a Danish-led project aimed at strengthening domestically produced weapons, missiles for F-16s, etc.

On Monday, Stockholm announced an allocation of 63 million euros in aid to kyiv, including a donation of 20 million euros to purchase locally manufactured weapons for the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), as part of an initiative carried out by Denmark aimed at purchasing weapons from the Ukrainians. manufacturers.

The remaining 43 million euros will be spent on a number of other multilateral initiatives aimed at supporting Ukraine, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

Last week, the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration (FMV) decided to negotiate this agreement with Copenhagen to donate an equivalent amount of military aid to Ukraine. The funds will be used to finance air-to-air missiles for Ukraine’s F-16 program, a coalition that trains Ukrainian marines, mine clearance training and information technology projects.

Last month, Ukrainska Pravda reported, Stockholm unveiled a new military aid package to kyiv worth more than 400 million euros, including possible training of Ukrainian pilots on Gripen fighter jets. Swedish manufacturing, of which this last tranche is part.

Although there are no immediate plans to send the coveted Saab-made planes to Ukraine, as the new NATO member wants to ensure it has enough for its own air force, Sweden has in no way ruled out this possibility.

In fact, about half of the September budget, worth around $440 million, is intended to purchase new “hardware kits” for Gripen fighters, although these are an older version than the latest, state-of-the-art Gripen JAS-39E, which has a longer battery life. greater range and payload than the potentially proposed Gripen JAS-39Ds.