This “is the first step towards a world war,” the Ukrainian president said Volodymyr Zelensky he told Kiev’s allies gravely during a rally trip to Brussels last week, as reports of North Korean troops in Russia, believed to be on the front lines against Ukraine, emerged from Kiev and Seoul .

This is precisely what Ukraine’s allies are all about nato they hoped to avoid. The alliance has shied away from any move that could spread the simmering conflict in Ukraine, already Europe’s biggest land war since World War II, to other countries.

But while it is generally considered a worrying escalation by officials around the world, a third world war is not yet looming.

“Russia’s potential training and deployment of North Korean troops in Ukraine marks another critical stage in the conflict, but will not lead to a wider global war,” said James Rogers, director of research at the Council on Geostrategy think tank. from Great Britain. .

“While it could further escalate the conflict, it is not serious to suggest that the mere presence of these troops will expand the conflict into a world war,” he said.

South Korean and Ukrainian officials have said about 10,000 North Korean troops are being sent to Russia, including an initial batch of about 1,500 fighters.

South Korea’s spy agency announced on Wednesday that about 3,000 personnel had arrived at Russian bases, with the remaining 7,000 to be deployed by the end of the year, according to South Korean media.

More than two and a half years into full-scale war in Ukraine, both Kiev and Moscow are looking for new ways to replenish their depleted ranks, with winter unlikely to offer a reprieve from high casualties.

Russia and North Korea signed a defense pact earlier this year. North Korean troops augmenting Russian ranks would likely be a very attractive prospect for the Kremlin, noting the unpopular options of mobilizing more personnel or sending recruits to Ukraine.

So far, no country outside the conflict has officially committed troops to the front lines, a move that would be a significant shift in the war and deeply worrying for Kiev and its supporters.

Kiev considered Pyongyang the most dangerous of Moscow’s allies, and North Korea has already provided substantial supplies of ammunition and missiles to Russia.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that there was “evidence” of North Korean troops in Russia but it remained “to be seen” what activities they would undertake. A North Korean representative at united nations called the reports “baseless.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described reports of North Korean troops arriving in Russia as “fake news” earlier this month. In further comments on Monday, Peskov said the reports were “contradictory” but did not explicitly deny the allegations.

“North Korea is our close neighbor, our partner, and we are developing our relations in all areas. This is our sovereign right,” Peskov said in remarks reported by Russian state media. “This should not worry anyone because this cooperation is not directed against third countries.”

It is highly likely that North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia, but it is not yet clear whether they have been used in front-line fighting, British Defense Secretary John Healey said during a joint press conference in London. on Wednesday, with German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. .

“I see this as a sign of desperation as well as a shocking escalation on the North Korea front,” Healey said.

The powerful leader of Belarus and a key ally of the Russian president Vladimir Putin, Alexander Lukashenkohe said BBC in an interview Wednesday that “Putin would never try to persuade another country to involve its military in Russia’s special operation in Ukraine.”

Reports of North Korean troop deployments are “rubbish,” Lukashenko said. “It would be a step towards escalation of the conflict if the armed forces of any country, even Belarus, were on the contact line,” he added.

When Russian troops crossed the border into Ukraine in February 2022, part of Moscow’s invasion force launched operations from Belarus.

Seoul’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said last week that North Korea sent about 1,500 special forces soldiers to the Russian port city of Vladivostok from October 8-13.

The spy agency said North Korean soldiers, posted to a number of bases in the Russian Far East, were equipped with Russian army uniforms, Russian-made weapons and fake documents claiming the fighters were residents of the Siberian regions.

“They appear to have disguised themselves as Russian soldiers,” the NIS said. The soldiers are “expected to be deployed to the front lines as soon as they complete their adaptation training,” the agency added.

Images published online by Russian and Ukrainian sources in recent days appear to show North Korean soldiers at a Russian training ground in the Primorsky region in the far east, which borders North Korea.

South Korea, deeply concerned about North Korean troops in Russia, said it had summoned Moscow’s ambassador to Seoul as it demanded the immediate return of Pyongyang’s fighters to the Korean Peninsula.

South Korea also said it was now considering sending weapons to Ukraine, a significant shift from a long-standing policy of deflecting and sending lethal aid to the front lines.

“We have adhered to a principle of not directly providing lethal weapons, but we can review this more flexibly depending on North Korean military activities,” South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Thursday, according to the country’s Yonhap news agency .