Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Oct. 29 urged his international supporters to react more forcefully to reports of North Korean forces in Russia and reiterated requests for long-range cruise missiles to strike inside Russia.
For weeks, the Ukrainian leader has raised alarm with claims that thousands of North Korean forces have arrived in Russia and may soon fight against Ukraine. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United States have also shared similar assessments about the North Korean force buildup.
Pyongyang has denied sending its troops to Russia, but Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t deny the allegation when asked about it last week.
Zelenskyy said, as far as he is concerned, the reports of North Korean troops in Russia are “a fact.” Still, he said that “there are some partners who are very skeptical that North Korean soldiers [are] on the ground” in Russia.
“I think that the voice of the United States, the voice of NATO, the voice of Western partners, the voice of global south, and China is not so loud as it has to be,” he said.
Zelenskyy described the alleged North Korean deployment as part of a pattern of Russian actions over the past decade that have tested the resolve of Ukraine’s Western backers. He assessed that the West was afraid to respond to Russia’s seizure of Crimea in 2014 and Russia’s support for separatist efforts in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. He said the muted Western response to Russian actions in Crimea and Donbas inspired Putin to move forward with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Thus far, President Joe Biden’s administration has issued statements urging against North Korean involvement in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and stating that Ukrainian forces wouldn’t be barred from using U.S.-donated weapons to retaliate against North Korean attacks.
At an Oct. 30 joint press briefing, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and South Korean Minister of Defense Kim Yong-hyun both reiterated calls for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to withdraw his forces from Russia and avoid involving his country in the ongoing war with Ukraine.
Zelenskyy’s Push for Long-Range Weapons
Asked whether Ukraine’s Western backers should respond to North Korean forces entering Russia, Zelenskyy tied the issue to his request for the West to provide Ukrainian forces with long-range weapons and grant permission to use them to strike Russian soil.“When we raise up the topic, for example, about a long-distance weapon for Ukraine, permission for Ukraine to use it, especially on military targets on the territory of Russia, ... some of the countries they say, ‘Oh it’s crossing red lines and if we will give you permission Russia will escalate,’” Zelenskyy said.
“It means that we can defend our land only when they destroy our land, when they’re already on our land, when they occupied our land, when they already killed our children, or are trying to do it,” he said.
Zelenskiy added: “So it means between partners—there’s not any confidential things.”
The Epoch Times reached out to the White House, the National Security Council, and the Department of Defense for comment regarding the reported Ukrainian request for Tomahawk missiles and Zelenskyy’s recent comments. No response was offered by press time.
The United States has been Ukraine’s main supplier of military assistance throughout the ongoing war and has appropriated about $175 billion in Ukraine-related military and economic support. Still, the Biden administration has expressed concerns about taking actions that might prompt nuclear-armed Russia to respond harshly or widen the conflict.
Modern Tomahawk cruise missile models have a range of about 1,000 miles.
