North Korea has offered to send 100,000 troops to support Russia’s attempt to invade Ukraine, Russian state television has claimed.
The pariah state’s offer of military aid could not be verified immediately, but was taken up by Russian defense expert Igor Korotchenko.
“There are reports that 100,000 North Korean volunteers are ready to come and take part in the conflict,” Korotchenko said on Russia’s Channel One.
Korotchenko was particularly interested in what he called “the North Korean’s anti-battery experience,” a telling remark given reports of the success of Ukraine’s long-range artillery since acquiring US-made HIMARS missile systems in June.
“If North Korea expresses a desire to fulfill its international duty to fight Ukrainian fascism, we should allow it,” Korotchenko said.
Apparently, what constitutes a “voluntary” force in an authoritarian state like North Korea was not taken into account.
According to Russian state television, North Korea has offered 100,000 “volunteers” to invade Ukraine. EPA/KCNA EDITORIAL USE ONLY
North Korea’s offer of military assistance could not be verified immediately.Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP
The call for North Korean support comes as several Russian satellite states are providing so-called “volunteer” troops, a sign some Western intelligence analysts have taken as indicating that Vladimir Putin lacks the political capital to order a mass mobilization in Russia.
Just last month, British spymaster Richard Moore said he believed Russia’s war effort was “about to run out of steam”.
“Our assessment is that the Russians will find it increasingly difficult to supply workers [and] Material over the next few weeks,” the MI6 chief said during a Q-and-A session at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.
Russian defense expert Igor Korotchenko argued that North Korea should be allowed to “fight against Ukrainian fascism.”
The “volunteer forces” of Russia’s satellite states are a sign that Russian President Vladimir Putin may lose support for the invasion. Vyacheslav Prokofiev/TASS via ZUMA Press
“These aren’t middle-class kids from St. Petersburg or Moscow,” he said of the troops being sent to the front lines against Ukraine.
“These are poor children from rural parts of Russia, they come from working-class towns in Siberia, they are disproportionately ethnic minorities—that’s who they are [Putin’s] cannon fodder.”