North Korean troops in Ukraine war called ‘huge’ escalation risk

North Korea sending troops to help Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine would represent a “huge” escalation risk, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Saturday.

Such a development would “push the conflict into a new stage, an additional escalatory stage,” France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot added at a joint press conference with Sybiha in Kyiv.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused North Korea this week of preparing to send soldiers to help Moscow’s war effort against Ukraine. South Korea has warned about Pyongyang’s increasing involvement in the Kremlin’s war and Seoul’s National Intelligence Service said on Friday that North Korea had already deployed 1,500 special forces troops to Russia.

Both the Kremlin and Pyongyang deny they have engaged in military transfers. And NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Friday that he could not “confirm reports that North Koreans are actively now as soldiers engaged in the war effort.”

But Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last summer signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty that commits both countries to provide military assistance to each other if either is attacked. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol warned on Friday that Pyongyang’s involvement in the Ukraine conflict would pose a “grave security threat” to the world. 

“This is a huge threat of further escalation of Russian aggression against Ukraine,” Ukraine’s Sybiha said on Saturday, Reuters reported. “There is a big risk of it growing out of its current scale and borders,” he said.

France’s Barrot said such a move would signal that Moscow was struggling in the war. But “it would be serious and push the conflict into a new stage, an additional escalatory stage,” Barrot said.

Barrot also pledged his support for Ukraine’s plan for ending the war with Russia, saying he will work with Ukrainian officials to secure international backing for the proposal. Kyiv’s “victory plan,” which Zelenskyy unveiled earlier this week, hopes to compel Moscow to end its invasion of Ukraine through negotiations.

The proposal is being considered by Ukraine’s Western partners, whose help is vital for Kyiv. A key element would be a formal invitation into NATO, which Western allies have been reluctant to consider until after the war ends.

“A Russian victory would be a consecration for the law of the strongest and would push the international order toward chaos,” Barrot told reporters in Kyiv. “That is why our exchanges should allow us to make progress on President Zelenskyy’s victory plan and rally the greatest number possible of countries around it.”

Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine on Friday carried out a new exchange of prisoners of war, with the countries repatriating 95 prisoners each. The United Arab Emirates facilitated the agreement, serving as a mediator.

“Each time Ukraine rescues its people from Russian captivity, we bring closer the day when freedom will be returned to all those still held in Russian captivity,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X.