While NATO and Ukraine’s Western allies this week officially confirmed the participation of North Korean troops in Russia’s war against Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky has now put Pyongyang’s total troop numbers at close to 12,000.

Zelensky warned that there are currently about 3,000 North Korean soldiers on Russian territory and that another 9,000 are expected shortly.

“We think they will reach 12,000 soon,” Zelensky said at a press conference in Iceland on Monday, according to AFP.

Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak added on social media: “This is tension. Sanctions alone are not enough. “We need weapons and a clear plan to prevent North Korea from becoming further involved in the war in Europe.”

“The enemy understands the force,” Yemak wrote. “Our allies have this power.”

Yermak was responding to comments by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who confirmed the presence of Pyongyang’s infantry in Eastern Europe after meeting with South Korean military intelligence officials on Monday.

Rutte also reported that more than 600 thousand Russian soldiers have been killed or injured since February 2022, when Russia launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine. Rutte underlined that Moscow cannot continue its years-long “special operation” without foreign aid.

On Monday, US President Joe Biden’s administration also signed off on an estimated 10,000 North Korean troops joining the war and warned Pyongyang’s allies in China that their support for this deployment and Moscow’s illegal occupation in general would increase. “destabilizing” and “very dangerous”.

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“We believe North Korea is sending approximately 10,000 troops in total to train in eastern Russia, which will likely increase Russian forces near Ukraine over the next several weeks,” Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said at a news conference.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller added that Beijing “should be concerned about this destabilizing action by its two neighbors, Russia and North Korea.”

Moscow’s bombs detonate iconic skyscraper in Kharkiv, injuring six civilians

Russian airstrikes destroyed the iconic UNESCO-identified Derzhprom building in the region’s capital, which has become a symbol of Ukraine’s second-largest city, the Kharkiv regional governor said on Monday. According to AFP, this is one of the areas on the Provisional List of Monuments being evaluated for inclusion in UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

“A direct blow was recorded on the Derzhprom building,” regional governor Oleg Synegubov wrote on Telegram, posting photos showing a hole punched in the facade, exploding windows and shattered interiors. The building also suffered minor damage in a missile attack in January this year.

“In an attack believed to have been carried out primarily with guided bombs, the invaders hit the iconic symbol of the city, familiar to every Kharkiv resident,” the governor said. “This is a monument of national importance, a building in the Constructivist style,” he added.

According to AFP’s statement, the modernist structure, consisting of state administrative buildings connected by overhead bridges, was opened in 1928. One of the first Soviet skyscrapers, the forerunner of the famous “Seven Sisters” in Moscow, the Stalinist skyscrapers completed between 1952 and 1957, and is considered the tallest buildings in Europe at the time. (The tallest building currently housing Moscow State University has 36 floors.)

At least six people were injured in the attack and the building of a health institution was also damaged.

Sweden, through the Danish-led project, is planning to develop domestically produced weapons, missiles for F-16s, etc. announced 63 million Euros for Ukraine for support.

Stockholm on Monday allocated €63 million in aid to Kiev, including a €20 million donation towards the purchase of locally produced weapons for the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU), as part of a Danish-led initiative to buy weapons from Ukraine. announced that it was. manufacturers.

The remaining €43 million will be transferred to a number of other multilateral initiatives aimed at supporting Ukraine, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

Last week, the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration (FMV) decided to negotiate this agreement with Copenhagen to donate the same amount of military aid to Ukraine. The funds will go toward air-to-air missiles for Ukraine’s F-16 program, a coalition that trains Ukrainian marines, mine-clearing training and information technology projects.

Last month, Stockholm announced a new military aid package to Kiev worth more than 400 million euros, of which this latest tranche is a part, including the possible training of Ukrainian pilots on Swedish-made Gripen fighter jets, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

While there are no immediate plans to send the highly sought-after Saab-made jets to Ukraine, as NATO’s newest member wants to make sure it has enough jets for its own Air Force, Sweden has by no means ruled out the possibility.

In fact, about half of September’s roughly $440 million package is intended to purchase new “stuff kits” for Gripen fighters; albeit for an older version than the state-of-the-art Gripen JAS-39E; range and potentially a greater payload capacity than the Gripen JAS-39Ds offered.