More than 3K North Korean troops have been killed, wounded fighting for Russia, Ukraine’s Zelensky says

North Korea has lost more than 3,000 troops in about two months of combat in Russia’s Kursk region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday — and he criticized world leaders for doing “almost nothing” to counter Moscow’s alliance with Pyongyang.

Despite the relatively high casualty rate, Zelensky added that North Korea might send even more resources to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s armies as they near the three-year mark of Putin’s invasion of his western neighbor, The Guardian reported.

“There are risks of North Korea sending additional troops and military equipment to the Russian army,” he said.

His assertion was backed up by South Korea’s military, which also revealed it’s seeing signs Pyongyang is readying more soldiers, weapons and suicide drones for export.

But the Ukrainian president’s casualty estimate is far higher than South Korea’s — officials in Seoul believe only about 1,100 North Korean troops have been killed or wounded out of the 12,000 soldiers North Korea sent to Russia several months ago, the outlet said.

Zelensky also lashed out at Robert Fico, Slovakia’s prime minister, for continuing to import Russian gas in a move the Ukrainian said helps the invaders.

“We believe that such assistance to Putin is immoral,” Zelensky said, adding the move implies Fico “wants to help Putin earn money to fund the war and weaken Europe.”

Slovakia relies on Russian gas and is concerned the well could run dry after a gas transit contract through Ukraine expires at the end of the year, the Guardian reported.

Fico traveled to Moscow on Sunday to meet with Putin — and the Russians called the gas situation complicated and needed further attention.

Ukraine has already said it won’t renew a five-year deal that brings Russian gas to Europe because it doesn’t want to aid the war effort threatening its own existence, the outlet said.

But the flow — which makes up about half of Russia’s gas pipeline exports to Europe — would likely hurt Slovakia, Italy, Austria and the Czech Republic when it ends.

Putin has said he’d keep sending gas to Slovakia, Fico said. But that will be nearly impossible without the Ukraine transit deal.

President-elect Donald Trump has said he wants to end the brutal conflict between the two countries, which started in February 2022 when Putin launched his armies across the border under dubious circumstances.

But Trump hasn’t said how he’d end the fighting.

On Thursday, Putin said he was willing to reach a compromise with Ukrainian officials, the Guardian reported.

Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said several countries are willing to hold talks between Putin and Trump, though Ushakov wouldn’t reveal which ones.