Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that the thousands of North Korean soldiers expected to reinforce Russian troops on the front line in Ukraine are pushing the almost three-year war beyond the borders of the warring parties.

Western leaders say North Korea has sent about 10,000 soldiers to help Russia’s military campaign and warned that its involvement in a European war could also unsettle relations in the Indo-Pacific region, including Japan and Australia.

Mr Zelensky said he spoke to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and told him that 3,000 North Korean soldiers are already at military bases close to the Ukranian front line and that he expects that deployment to increase to 12,000.

South Korea, which has been in close contact with Nato, the US and the European Union about the latest developments, warned last week it could send arms to Ukraine in retaliation for the North’s involvement.

Russia Ukraine War
Firefighters inspect a damaged office building after it was hit by Russian aerial guided bombs in central Kharkiv (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

“There is only one conclusion – this war is internationalised and goes beyond the borders” of Ukraine and Russia, Mr Zelensky wrote on Telegram.

The Ukrainian president also said he agreed with Mr Yoon to step up their countries’ co-operation and exchange more intelligence between them, as well as develop concrete responses to Pyongyang’s involvement.

Meanwhile, North Korea said its top diplomat is visiting Russia in another sign of their deepening relationship.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years, with North Korea continuing a run of provocative weapons tests and South Korea and the US expanding their military drills.

Russian drones, missiles and bombs smashed into Kyiv and Kharkiv, Ukraine’s biggest cities, in night-time attacks, killing four people and wounding 15 in a continuing aerial onslaught, authorities said on Tuesday.

Russia has bombarded civilian areas of Ukraine almost daily since its full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022, causing thousands of casualties.

The Russian army is also pushing hard against front-line defences in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine.

The Russian defence ministry claimed on Tuesday that Russian troops captured the Donetsk town of Hirnyk and the villages of Katerynivka, and Bohoiavlenka.

Mr Zelensky also spoke about the war at a meeting on Tuesday in Reykjavik with the leaders of Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

He said a conference will begin in Canada on Wednesday to address the abduction of what he said were tens of thousands of children by Russia from Ukraine’s occupied territories.

A Russian aerial attack struck Kharkiv, in Ukraine’s northeast, at about 3am, hitting a house and killing four people, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said. Nearly 20 houses were damaged in the attack, he said.

Several hours earlier, Russia dropped a glide bomb on the landmark Derzhprom building in Kharkiv city centre, injuring seven people, mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

Derzhprom, also known as the Palace of Industry, is being considered for inclusion on Unesco’s World Heritage List.

Mr Terekhov said that Russia has concentrated attacks on Kharkiv in recent days. He urged people not to ignore air raid warnings.

Authorities in Kyiv said debris from intercepted Russian drones fell on two city districts, injuring six people.

Ukraine has also used long-range drones to disrupt Russia’s war machine and embarrass the Kremlin by striking targets on Russian soil.

A special forces academy in the Russian province of Chechnya was hit by drones, causing a fire that was quickly extinguished, according to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who is close ally of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

It was the first drone attack of the war on Chechnya, which lies about 500 miles east of Ukraine.