Britain estimates it is highly likely that North Korea has agreed to send troops to support Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Russia already bought weapons from North Korea. Putin is clearly desperate.
His desperation is a danger to us all. pic.twitter.com/Srum41rvMG
— UK at the UN 🇬🇧🇺🇳 (@UKUN_NewYork) October 21, 2024
A British diplomat called Vladimir Putin “desperate” because of possible use North Korean troops on the frontline in a scathing assessment.
The British Permanent Representative to the United NationsDame Barbara Woodward criticized the Russian president for using soldiers as “cannon fodder”, while also issuing a grim warning about what Pyongyang will want in return.
Woodward said Monday: “It is very likely that the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] has agreed to send combat troops in support of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
“It seems that the harder Putin finds it to recruit Russians as cannon fodder, the more he is willing to rely on North Korea in his illegal war.”
Russia’s efforts to strengthen its armed forces backfired early in the war, as the public responded to a partial mobilization of 300,000 reservists with protests and a wave of people fleeing the country.
But two years later, Putin has announced plans to make his military the second largest in the world with 1.5 million active troops.
He claims that he does not need any form of conscription because there are enough volunteers, even though the West estimates that Russia suffers more than a thousand battlefield casualties every day.
It is now thought that Putin’s defense pact with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un – signed earlier this year – means Pyongyang is actually sending soldiers to fight in the war in Ukraine, although Moscow denies this.
Woodward continued at the UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine: “Russia was already purchasing weapons from the DPRK to inflict suffering on the Ukrainian people, in violation of the European security violations that Russia itself had voted for.
“And now, with this recent development, we can be sure that the North Korean leadership will demand a high price from Russia in return.”
This moment from Woodward’s speech was clipped to the UN’s account by Britain and posted on social media, along with a caption that reads: “Putin is clearly desperate. His desperation is a danger to us all.”
Her words come after the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres reportedly accepted an invitation to attend Russia’s BRICS summit and meet Putin.
Ukraine has reacted angrily, pointing out that Guterres turned down an invitation to his own summit earlier this year.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote about X: “The UN Secretary General has rejected Ukraine’s invitation to the first Global Peace Summit in Switzerland.
“However, he did accept the invitation to Kazan from war criminal Putin. This is a wrong choice that does not advance the cause of peace. It only damages the reputation of the UN.”
