RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Putin reiterates Russia’s willingness to engage in talks with Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has once again reiterated Moscow's readiness for talks with Kiev.

"I have said it more than once that Russia is not just ready for talks but has already held such talks at a certain point, specifically at the very beginning of this conflict," he stated during a ceremony of receiving credentials from foreign ambassadors. "Those talks even resulted in a mutually acceptable treaty, which was initialed by the Ukrainian side."

"But the Ukrainian side rejected that treaty on the advice of external parties, as confirmed by Ukrainian officials," the president recalled.

Nearly three hours of talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul on March 29, 2022, yielded principles for a potential agreement, including Ukraine's commitment to maintain a neutral, non-aligned status and its pledge to refrain from deploying foreign weapons, including nuclear weapons, on its territory.

However, after Russia withdrew its forces from the Kiev and Chernigov regions, the settlement talks were frozen. According to President Putin, Kiev rejected the agreements. The Ukrainian side has claimed that the rejection was made on the advice of then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Zelenskiy says clashes with North Korean troops 'open page' to instability

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday that the first battles between the Ukrainian military and North Korean troops "open a new page in instability in the world" after his defence minister said a "small engagement" had taken place.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov confirmed, in an interview with South Korean television, that the first engagement had occurred with North Korean troops, an apparent escalation in a conflict that began when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Zelenskiy, in his nightly video address, thanked those in the world who, he said, had reacted to the dispatch of North Korean troops to Russia last month "not just with words ... but who are preparing actions to support our defence.

"The first battles with North Korean soldiers open a new page of instability in the world," he said.

He said that Ukraine, acting with the rest of the world, had to "do everything so that this Russian step to expand the war with real escalation fails."

Umerov, the defence minister, told South Korea's KBS television in an interview broadcast on Tuesday that there had been a "small engagement" with North Korean troops.

"Yes, I think so. It is (an) engagement," Umerov said in English, when asked if a clash had occurred.

The report, with excerpts from the interview, quoted Umerov as saying that the engagement was small and not yet systematic in terms of mobilising soldiers.

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TROOPS IN FRONTLINE AREAS

South Korea's Defence Ministry said on Tuesday that more than 10,000 North Korean troops had arrived in Russia, with a "significant number" in the frontline areas, including the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces staged an incursion in August.

Zelenskiy quoted intelligence sources as saying on Monday that 11,000 North Koreans were in Russia. The Pentagon said at least 10,000 North Korean soldiers were in Kursk, but it could not corroborate suggestions that they had been engaged in combat.

The KBS report said Umerov told the interviewer that identification and other procedures would take time as the Russian military was trying to pass off the North Koreans as Buryats, a Mongolian ethnic group from Siberian regions.

Umerov said he expected a sharp rise in the number of North Koreans deployed.

"(There are) already contacts, but after a couple of weeks, we would see a more significant number and upon this, we will review it and analyse it," he said.

Expectations that North Korean troops would undergo a month's training, he said, appeared to have been shortened to one or two weeks to allow swifter deployment to the battlefield.

Russia has not acknowledged that North Korean troops are on its territory, but Putin last week did not deny reports of their presence. He said it was up to Russia how to implement its defence pact with Pyongyang.

Tass/Reuters