A British diplomat has called Vladimir Putin “desperate” for potentially using North Korean troops on the frontline in a scathing assessment.
The permanent UK representative to the United Nations, Dame Barbara Woodward, criticised the Russian president for using soldiers as “cannon fodder” while also issuing a bleak warning about what Pyongyang will want in return.
Speaking on Monday, Woodward said: “It is highly 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 to be cannon fodder, the more willing he is to rely on DPRK in his illegal war.”
Russia’s attempts to bolster its forces went awry early in the war – the public responded to a partial mobilisation 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 army the second largest in the world with 1.5 million active troops.
He claims he will not require any form of conscription to do so as there are enough volunteers, even though the West estimates Russia is suffering more than 1,000 casualties a day on the battlefield.
It’s now thought that Putin’s defence pact with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un – signed earlier this year – means Pyongyang is actually sending soldiers to fight in the Ukraine war, although Moscow denies it.
Speaking at the UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine, Woodward continued: “Already, Russia was procuring weaponry from DPRK to inflict suffering on the Ukrainian people in violation of European security violations that Russia itself voted for.
“And now, with this recent development, we can be certain that the DPRK leadership will ask for a high price from Russia in return.”
This moment from Woodward’s speech was clipped and posted on social media by the UK at the UN’s account, along with a caption which reads: “Putin is clearly desperate. His desperation is a danger to us all.”
Her words come after the UN’s secretary-general Antonio Guterres reportedly accepted an invitation to attend Russia’s BRICS summit and to meet with Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine has reacted furiously, pointing out that Guterres turned down an invitation to its own summit earlier this year.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry wrote on X: “The UN secretary-general declined Ukraine’s invitation to the first Global Peace Summit in Switzerland.
“He did, however, 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 UN’s reputation.”