The Russian President Vladimir Putin "is watching the reaction from the West, from NATO countries and from South Korea", said Zelenskyj in an interview and continued:
And if there is no reaction - and so far it has been absent - it has been zero - then the number of North Korean soldiers at our border will increase.
In the Kursk region
The interview with Zelenskyj, which was published on Thursday, coincided with new intelligence information from the USA.
We have just received information that 8,000 soldiers are located in Kursk, said the US Deputy UN Ambassador Robert Wood when he suddenly requested the floor during a meeting.
He then turned to the Russian representative in the Security Council.
I have, with respect, a question to my Russian colleague. Does Russia stand by its claim that there are no soldiers from North Korea in Russia? wondered Wood.
Reports vary on how large the number of soldiers is that have been deployed to Russia. The USA said on Wednesday that 10,000 soldiers from North Korea had arrived in Russia. Ukraine claims that it is about 12,000 soldiers.
"Legitimate targets"
The USA is warning that the forces will be deployed in the Russian Kursk region against Ukrainian soldiers who have occupied parts of Russian territory.
The USA simultaneously marked that North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia are "legitimate military targets".
We have not yet seen the soldiers deployed in combat, but we expect it to happen in the coming days, said the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
South Korea's Defense Minister Kim Yong-Hyun said at a press conference in Washington DC on Thursday that North Korea has delivered more than 1,000 drones to Russia.
The South Korean minister is invited by the US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin for discussions on the development in both the Pacific region and in the Russian invasion war.
