Kiev announces new mobilization drive as Russia advances

KIEV

Kiev has announced a fresh mobilization drive as Moscow seized the mining hub of Selydove and the U.S. said some North Korean troops were in Russia's Kursk region, warning that thousands more were on their way.

Russia has been making swift advances in the eastern Donetsk region for weeks and on Oct. 29 said it "fully" captured Selydove, whose estimated population of around 21,000 people has fled from Moscow's drone and rocket attacks.

Concern has grown in Kiev and the West over North Korea's military cooperation with Russia, with neither the Kremlin nor Pyongyang denying that the reclusive country's troops were in Russia.

The Pentagon said a "small number" of Pyongyang's troops have been deployed in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces have held onto land since summer.

Its spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said the U.S. had information that "a couple thousand more [North Korean troops] that are either almost there or due to arrive imminently."

Ukraine has been struggling with deepening manpower shortages over recent months and is embroiled in an unpopular debate about how to bolster the military's ranks.

On Oct. 29, the Secretary of Ukraine's National Security Council Oleksandr Lytvynenko told Parliament that the army planned to recruit another 160,000 people. An AFP source said the recruitment would take place over three months.

Moscow also said it had wrested control of the nearby villages of Bogoyavlenka, Girnyk and Katerynivka, also in the Donetsk region, which President Vladimir Putin claimed was formally part of Russia in late 2022, the year Moscow invaded.

The gains announced by Moscow are just the latest in a string of Russian advances that have gained momentum since February with the collapse of Ukraine's defenses in the stronghold town of Avdiivka.

Russia has advanced 478 square kilometers in October alone, a record since March 2022, according to an AFP analysis of data from the American Institute for the Study of War.

Two-thirds of the Russian gains, or 324 square kilometers, were in the Donetsk region.

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said he had discussed North Korean troop deployment with South Korea's president, Yoon Suk Yeol.

Both countries, along with leaders of the NATO military alliance and the United States, are sounding the alarm over the transfer of some 10,000 North Korean troops to Russia.

"The conclusion is clear: This war is becoming internationalized, extending beyond two countries," Zelensky told the South Korean leader, according to a readout of the call released by Kiev.

Zelensky, meanwhile, was visiting Iceland to rally allies around his "victory plan," which stipulates an immediate invitation for Ukraine to join NATO.

Zelensky was also expected to appeal to Nordic leaders for more military aid and air defense systems.