• Ukraine has released a video showing North Korean troops in Russia.

• The video was published by the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security of the Ukrainian government.

• The center said the images show the troops “equipped with Russian equipment.”

A new video released by the Ukrainian government’s Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security appears to show North Korean soldiers at a Russian military base.

The center said the footage shows North Korean troops “equipped with Russian equipment” at Russia’s Sergievsky training ground “in preparation for deployment to Ukraine.”

Business Insider was unable to independently verify the footage.

It comes after South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said on Friday that thousands of North Korean troops would join Russian forces in Ukraine.

NOS said North Korean soldiers were being transported from the North on Russian naval vessels and that there were already about 1,500 North Korean special forces in Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a NATO press conference on Thursday that Ukraine had information that North Korea was preparing to send 10,000 troops to occupied areas of Ukraine.

“We have information that North Korea has sent tactical personnel and officers to Ukraine in temporarily occupied areas, and they are preparing 10,000 soldiers on their land, but they have not yet moved them to Ukraine or Russia,” he said.

NATO chief Mark Rutte said in Brussels on Friday: “Our official position is that we cannot confirm reports that North Koreans are now active as soldiers involved in the war effort.”

“Even if North Korea is not physically present on the battlefield, they are still helping to fuel Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine in every possible way,” Rutte added.

Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said the U.S. is “looking into” the claims.

“We cannot confirm or corroborate these reports,” he said Thursday. “If true, it would demonstrate an increase in cooperation between Russia and North Korea.”

Should the involvement of North Korean forces in the conflict be confirmed, it would mark North Korea’s first major involvement in a war since the 1950-1953 Korean War.

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