North Korean troops are poised to be deployed by Russia on the battlefield in Ukraine as early as this weekend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed.

Western officials have warned that such a development would stoke the almost three-year war and bring geopolitical consequences as far away as the Indo-Pacific region.

Mr Zelensky said Ukrainian intelligence had determined that “the first North Korean military will be used by Russia in combat zones” between Sunday and Monday.

He said on Telegram that the deployment was “an obvious escalating move by Russia”.

Ukrainian servicemen of the 24th Mechanised Brigade rest on their position in Chasiv Yar, Donetsk
Mr Zelensky said the North Koreans’ involvement would make it a global conflict (Oleg Petrasiuk/Ukrainian 24th Mechanised Brigade via AP)

Russia has been conducting a ferocious summer campaign along the eastern front in Ukraine, gradually compelling Kyiv to surrender ground. But Russia has struggled to push Ukrainian forces out of its Kursk border region following an incursion almost three months ago.

North Korean units were detected on Wednesday in Kursk, according to Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR).

The soldiers had undergone several weeks of training at bases in eastern Russia and had been equipped with clothes for the upcoming winter, the GUR said on Thursday.

It estimated the number of North Korean soldiers sent by Pyongyang to Russia at around 12,000, including some 500 officers and three generals.

The deployment of North Korean forces under a military pact between Moscow and Pyongyang brings a new dimension to the conflict, which is Europe’s biggest war since the Second World War and has cost tens of thousands of lives on both sides, including many civilians.

A serviceman rests
The war is heading into its third year (Ukrainian 24th Mechanised Brigade via AP)

The US said 3,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia and are training at several locations, and called the move very serious.

Mr Zelensky said a week ago that his government has intelligence information that 10,000 troops from North Korea are being readied to join Russian forces fighting against his country. He said that a third nation wading into the hostilities would turn the conflict into a “world war”.

North Korea had already been supplying ammunition to Russia under a defence pact, but putting boots on the ground could severely complicate a war that has inflamed international politics, with most Western countries supporting Kyiv.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, has looked for support among the BRICS countries.