Putin is doing everything he can to delay and avoid the decision to conduct another full wave of mobilization on the territory of the Russian Federation
the source told the paper. Instead, it relies on external help, the main pillar of which is North Korea. Based on information from Ukrainian intelligence, North Korean soldiers are being trained to fight in Ukraine. They are planned to be deployed as part of the “Special Buryat Battalion”, which will belong to the 11th Airborne Brigade of the Russian Army. Up to 3,000 North Korean soldiers are expected to serve in the battalion, currently equipped with small arms and ammunition and They can arrive in Ukraine by the end of 2024.
A Ukrainian army officer is skeptical about the effectiveness of North Korean soldiers, saying they have outdated equipment and would likely only be deployed in high-risk operations. The parties are also trying to create the legal framework for military cooperation. President Putin on Monday submitted a bill to the Russian parliament to ratify a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement he signed with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in June.
Article 4 of the agreement states that the parties will provide mutual aid to each other in case of war.
According to Western sources, North Korea has already supplied Russia with a significant amount of artillery shells for the war in Ukraine. In mid-October, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi claimed that Pyongyang was not only sending weapons, but also soldiers. The Kyiv Post previously reported that a North Korean officer was also killed in a missile strike in early October in Russian-occupied territory near Donetsk. The officers were said to be in the area to confer with their Russian counterparts.
The cover image is an illustration. Cover image source: Portfolio
Source: www.portfolio.hu
