Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh says North Korea has sent about 10,000 troops to Russia to train and fight in Ukraine within “the next several weeks.”
五角大楼周一表示，朝鲜已向俄罗斯派遣了约 10,000 名士兵，在“未来几周”内在乌克兰进行训练和战斗，西方领导人表示，此举将加剧近三年的战争，并震撼印太地区的关系。
五角大楼发言人萨布丽娜·辛格 （Sabrina Singh） 表示，一些朝鲜士兵已经靠近乌克兰，据信他们正在前往库尔斯克边境地区，俄罗斯一直在努力击退乌克兰的入侵。
周一早些时候，北约秘书长马克·吕特 （Mark Rutte） 北约证实了最近的乌克兰情报报告，称一些朝鲜军队已经在库尔斯克地区。
在二战以来欧洲最大的冲突中增加数千名朝鲜士兵，将给疲惫不堪、不堪重负的乌克兰军队带来更多压力。西方官员表示，它还将加剧朝鲜半岛和更广泛的印太地区（包括日本和澳大利亚）的地缘政治紧张局势。俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京 （Vladimir Putin） 热衷于重塑全球权力动态。他试图通过上周在俄罗斯举行的金砖国家峰会（包括中国和印度领导人）来制衡西方的影响力。据西方政府称，他向提供无人机的伊朗和运送了大量弹药的朝鲜寻求战争的直接帮助。
吕特在布鲁塞尔告诉记者，朝鲜的部署代表着平壤卷入冲突的“重大升级”和“俄罗斯战争的危险扩大”。
乔·拜登总统也称这种部署“危险”。非常危险。
国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀（Lloyd Austin）和国务卿安东尼·布林肯（Antony Blinken）将于本周晚些时候在华盛顿与韩国国防部长举行会晤。
辛格表示，奥斯汀和国防部长金英贤将讨论朝鲜士兵在乌克兰的部署问题。辛格说，对这些部队使用美国提供的武器将不受限制。
“如果我们看到朝鲜军队向前线移动，他们就是战争的共同交战国，”辛格说。“这是朝鲜必须做出的盘算。”
俄罗斯外交部长谢尔盖·拉夫罗夫 （Sergey Lavrov） 对吕特的评论不屑一顾，并指出平壤和莫斯科去年 6 月签署了一项联合安全协议。他没有证实朝鲜士兵在俄罗斯。
拉夫罗夫声称，西方军事教官长期以来一直被秘密部署到乌克兰，以帮助其军队使用西方合作伙伴提供的远程武器。
乌克兰在东部顿涅茨克地区的防御面临俄罗斯的严重压力，下周的美国总统大选可能会带来更多黯淡的消息。唐纳德·特朗普的胜利可能会导致美国军队的关键帮助减少。
在莫斯科，国防部周一宣布，俄罗斯军队已经占领了顿涅茨克的 Tsukuryne 村——这是最新一个屈服于俄罗斯缓慢进攻的定居点。
吕特在布鲁塞尔发表讲话之前，一个包括高级情报和军事官员以及高级外交官在内的韩国高级代表团在北约总部向该联盟的 32 名国家大使做了简报。
吕特表示，北约正在“积极在联盟内部、与乌克兰以及我们的印太伙伴就事态发展进行磋商”。他说，他将很快与韩国总统和乌克兰国防部长进行会谈。
“我们将继续密切关注情况，”他说。声明后他没有回答问题。
据在场的欧洲官员称，韩国没有显示朝鲜在库尔斯克驻军的证据，他们在匿名的情况下向美联社（The Associated Press）谈到了安全简报。
目前尚不清楚北约盟国将如何或何时对朝鲜的参与做出回应。例如，他们可以取消阻止乌克兰使用西方提供的武器对俄罗斯领土进行远程打击的限制。
乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基 （Volodymyr Zelenskyy） 上周五援引情报报告称，朝鲜军队将在几天内到达战场。
他此前表示，他的政府有消息称，大约 10,000 名来自朝鲜的士兵正准备加入俄罗斯军队，与他的国家作战。
在泽连斯基发表讲话的几天前，美国和韩国官员表示，有证据表明朝鲜已向俄罗斯派遣了军队。
North Korea has sent about 10,000 troops to Russia to train and fight in Ukraine within “the next several weeks,” the Pentagon said Monday, in a move that Western leaders say will intensify the almost three-year war and jolt relations in the Indo-Pacific region.
Some of the North Korean soldiers have already moved closer to Ukraine, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said, and were believed to be heading for the Kursk border region, where Russia has been struggling to push back a Ukrainian incursion.
Earlier Monday, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte NATO confirmed recent Ukrainian intelligence reports that some North Korean military units were already in the Kursk region.
Adding thousands of North Korean soldiers to Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II will pile more pressure on Ukraine’s weary and overstretched army. It will also stoke geopolitical tensions in the Korean Peninsula and the wider Indo-Pacific region, including Japan and Australia, Western officials say.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is keen to reshape global power dynamics. He sought to build a counterbalance to Western influence with a summit of BRICS countries, including the leaders of China and India, in Russia last week. He has sought direct help for the war from Iran, which has supplied drones, and North Korea, which has shipped large amounts of ammunition, according to Western governments.
Rutte told reporters in Brussels that the North Korean deployment represents “a significant escalation” in Pyongyang’s involvement in the conflict and “a dangerous expansion of Russia’s war.”
President Joe Biden also called the deployment “dangerous. Very dangerous.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with their South Korean counterparts later this week in Washington.
Singh said Austin and Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun will discuss the deployment of North Korean soldiers in Ukraine. There will be no limitations on the use of U.S.-provided weapons on those forces, Singh said.“If we see DPRK troops moving in towards the front lines, they are co-belligerents in the war,” Singh said, using the acronym for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or North Korea. “This is a calculation that North Korea has to make.”
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov shrugged off Rutte’s comments and noted that Pyongyang and Moscow signed a joint security pact last June. He stopped short of confirming North Korean soldiers were in Russia.
Lavrov claimed that Western military instructors long have been covertly deployed to Ukraine to help its military use long-range weapons provided by Western partners.
Ukraine, whose defenses are under severe Russian pressure in its eastern Donetsk region, could get more bleak news from next week’s U.S. presidential election. A Donald Trump victory could see key U.S. military help dwindle.
In Moscow, the Defense Ministry announced Monday that Russian troops have captured the Donetsk village of Tsukuryne — the latest settlement to succumb to the slow-moving Russian onslaught.
Rutte spoke in Brussels after a high-level South Korean delegation, including top intelligence and military officials as well as senior diplomats, briefed the alliance’s 32 national ambassadors at NATO headquarters.
Rutte said NATO is “actively consulting within the alliance, with Ukraine, and with our Indo-Pacific partners,” on developments. He said he was due to talk soon with South Korea’s president and Ukraine’s defense minister.
“We continue to monitor the situation closely,” he said. He did not take questions after the statement.
The South Koreans showed no evidence of North Korean troops in Kursk, according to European officials who were present for the 90-minute exchange and spoke to The Associated Press about the security briefing on condition of anonymity.
It’s unclear how or when NATO allies might respond to the North Korean involvement. They could, for example, lift restrictions that prevent Ukraine from using Western-supplied weapons for long-range strikes on Russian soil.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, citing intelligence reports, claimed last Friday that North Korean troops would be on the battlefield within days.
He previously said his government had information that some 10,000 troops from North Korea were being readied to join Russian forces fighting against his country.
Days before Zelenskyy spoke, American and South Korean officials said there was evidence North Korea had dispatched troops to Russia.
