BRUSSELS — Ukraine's president accused North Korea on Thursday (Oct 17) of deploying officers alongside Russia and preparing to send thousands of troops to help Moscow's war effort, although Nato's chief said there was no evidence of Pyongyang's presence at this stage.

Western countries have long accused North Korea of sending weapons to Russia, and in recent days President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said it was also sending personnel, a significant escalation of foreign assistance for Moscow's invasion.

"We have information from our intelligence that... some officers of the North Korean army are already on Ukrainian territory temporarily occupied by the Russian enemies. So they joined the Russian army," Zelenskiy told a press conference in Brussels.

He said he could not give the exact number that were on the ground.

"We know about 10,000 soldiers of North Korea, that they are preparing to send to fight against us," he said, describing it as a "first step to the World War".

Ukraine's Western allies have yet to confirm Kyiv's assertion that Pyongyang is sending troops, though they say they are studying it.

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