News about Russia
Ukraine's surrender hotline is tempting North Koreans to desert, promising they'll be well fed
Ukraine is offering comfortable beds and warm meals to North Korea troops who surrender to them.
"You do not need to die senselessly in another country," Ukraine's military intelligence agency said.
North Korea is believed to have sent thousands of troops to help Russia fight Ukraine.
"To the soldiers of the Korean People's Army: You, who were sent to help the Putin regime, you do not need to die senselessly in another country," Ukraine's military intelligence agency said in an October 23 statement on its "I Want to Live" Telegram chatbot.
The "I Want to Live" project is a service that allows Russian soldiers to surrender by dialing their hotline. Access to the hotline and chatbot was blocked in Russia back in October 2022, though it can still be accessed via VPN.
"Surrender! Ukraine provides you with protection, food, and warmth," the statement said, adding that Russians soldiers who had surrendered were now living in "comfortable barracks" and given "three hot meals a day."
Besides the statement, Ukraine published a Korean-language video showcasing its prisoner-of-war camps as well as the meals served there.
The video, which was also posted on X and YouTube, ended with a phone number and QR code for North Korean soldiers looking to contact the Ukrainian authorities.
Ukraine's defense ministry did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.
North Korea is believed to have sent thousands of troops to aid Russia in its fight against Ukraine, per officials from South Korea, Ukraine, and the US.
Russia's use of North Korean troops is another indicator that it's relying more on allies to sustain its wartime efforts. Putin, for his part, has allotted 40% of the national budget to defense manufacturing, and signed a pact with Pyongyang that'll open up another source of war supplies and ammunition.
- But Ukraine's attempt to encourage North Korean troops to surrender faces distinct hurdles. North Korea experts earlier told Business Insider of the strict measures Pyongyang takes when sending citizens abroad.
Those sent, Bermudez said, would probably be accompanied by officials from the ruling Workers' Party of Korea who "file reports on everybody."
Bruce W. Bennett, a defense researcher and North Korea specialist at RAND, told BI that the country tries to rein in its overseas citizens with the threat of punishing their extended family back if they defect.
This, Bennett said, is why North Korean diplomats are almost never allowed to bring their whole family with them to their overseas postings.
As such, defectors risk hurting their family if they decide to flee from North Korea, Bermudez told BI
"North Korea believes in generational punishment," he added.
Russia can't sustain its attack on Ukraine without North Korean troops, NATO chief says
Thibault SpirletMon 28 October 2024 at 5:15 am GMT-7·2-min read
Scroll back up to restore default view.
He presented the alliance as a sign of weakness, saying Putin could not keep up the invasion alone.
Ukraine has said it expects to encounter North Korean troops on the battlefield within days.
NATO's chief said Russia can't sustain its invasion of Ukraine without North Korean troops.
- Mark Rutte said at a press conference on Monday that North Korean troops were deployed to Russia's Kursk region, where Ukraine occupies territory.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said over the weekend that he was expecting to see North Korean troops in battle within days.
He cited intelligence from South Korea's National Intelligence Service, its defense ministry, and NATO allies.
"Over 600,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in Putin's war, and he's unable to sustain his assault in Ukraine without foreign support," he said, referring to Russia's President Vladimir Putin.
He called the deployment a sign of "growing desperation" in the war, some two and a half years in.
Zelenskyy says Ukraine will be forced to fight against North Korea as he calls on allies to increase pressure on Russia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine will be forced to fight against North Korean troops.
Zelenskyy made the comments during an evening address posted to Telegram.
Ukraine previously warned that North Korean troops could be on the battlefield from Sunday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine will be forced to fight against North Korean troops should they enter the conflict.
In an evening address posted on Telegram, Zelenskyy said North Korean forces could appear on the battlefield "any day now."
"Ukraine will be forced to actually fight against North Korea in Europe," he said, adding: "These are the conditions when the lack of partners' stronger decisions in support of Ukraine only encourages Putin to invest further in terror."
Zelenskyy also called on Western allies to ramp up pressure on Russia, saying he expected more support.
Earlier this week, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian intelligence expected North Korean troops to be deployed to combat zones as soon as October 27 or 28, labeling it "a clear escalation by Russia."
The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine said on Sunday that Russia had begun transporting North Korean soldiers to the front lines.
The US and NATO both later confirmed that they had evidence of North Korean troops in Russia.
The White House spokesperson John Kirby said this week that the US believed North Korea had shipped at least 3,000 soldiers to eastern Russia, where they were undergoing training.Intelligence reports from South Korea's National Intelligence Service last week said the North was preparing to send thousands of troops to Russia to support Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces."If North Korean soldiers do enter into combat, this development would demonstrate Russia's growing desperation in its war against Ukraine," Kirby said.On Monday, a South Korean delegation is set to brief NATO on the situation, with Mark Rutte, the secretary general of the alliance, due to give a statement to media following the meeting.
Read the original article on Business Insider
For his part, Putin last Friday seemed unmoved by external criticism, saying whether Russia deploys North Korean troops is Russia's "sovereign decision."
"This is our business," he said, per Reuters.
Read the original article on Business Insider
No comments:
Post a Comment