Just as the war in Gaza is expanding, with Israel now in direct conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran, so too is the war in Ukraine. To be clear, ever since Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine over two and a half years ago, involvement in that war has not been limited to the two primary belligerents. The United States and its NATO allies have been staunch supporters of Kyiv. Their supplies of everything from weapons and financing to targeting intelligence and training have made the Western powers co-belligerents in the conflict.
For its part, Russia’s war effort has also been directly enabled by several countries, including diplomatic, economic and material support from members of the BRICS grouping, as well as missiles and drones supplied by Iran and munitions by North Korea.
But the nature of Moscow’s external support changed this past week, when it was confirmed by U.S. and European intelligence sources that Pyongyang has sent approximately 10,000 North Korean troops to train in Russia. In all likelihood, they will soon be deployed to fight in Russia’s Kursk region to help the Russian military drive back the offensive into Russian territory that Ukraine launched there in August.