North Korean troops in Ukraine seen as a major escalation

South Korea's spy agency warned earlier this month that around 12,000 North Korean troops were training to fight alongside Russian soldiers, with 2,600 already acclimatising in Russia's far east. There have even been videos circulating which appear to show North Korean forces training at a Russian military base.

Ukrainian intelligence officials have also warned of the impending arrival of North Korean forces, with Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine's intelligence warning that he expected North Korean troops to arrive in Russia's Kursk region on Wednesday. Ukrainian forces seized significant swathes of territory in Kursk earlier in the summer, prompting Moscow to launch a counter-offensive to recapture the territory.

Now, the US has, for the first time, confirmed the deployment of thousands of North Korean troops to Russia, with US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin warning that it could become a "very serious" potential escalation in the conflict. Speaking to reporters in Rome this week, Austin said there was evidence that North Korean forces were in Russia, warning that "if they're co-belligerents, and their intention is to participate in this war on Russia's behalf, that is a very, very serious issue."

A senior US military official later clarified Austin's remarks, explaining that while thousands of North Korean troops were in Russia, "we don't know what their mission will be or if they'll go on to fight in Ukraine."  Officials in Moscow have refused to confirm or deny whether North Korean troops were in its territory preparing to fight in Ukraine.

The deployment of North Korean forces will certainly hurt Ukraine, which is suffering from a severe manpower shortage as it struggles to maintain military operations on several fronts. 

Recruitment problem

Concerns about Ukraine's ability to provide fresh conscripts to sustain the country's war effort have deepened after Ukraine's Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin announced he had resigned earlier this week. Kostin said he was taking responsibility for a scandal in which dozens of officials are alleged to have abused their position to receive disability status and avoid military service.

Kostin's resignation followed a meeting of the National Security and Defence Council, where officials discussed how to crack down on corruption and on loopholes being used to get draft deferrals.

There has been a national outcry in Ukraine after a journalist published a story earlier this month claiming that 50 prosecutors in the western region of Khmelnytskyi had been registered as disabled. With Ukraine struggling to find sufficient numbers of recruits to sustain its war effort, the deployment of North Korean forces could not only prove to be a game-changer on the battlefield. Their deployment would also reflect Putin's growing determination to build a powerful alliance of allies to challenge the West's long-standing dominance on the global stage.

Rebalanced world order

Putin's desire to establish a "rebalanced" world order to rival the West was very much in evidence this week after the Russian leader hosted a summit in Kazan, in central Russia. In an attempt to double the size of the BRICS bloc, Putin says he is determined to create a new economic body to challenge the traditional dominance of the West.

Read more: Putin to unveil his vision for a more balanced world in Kazan

"The process of forming a multipolar world order is underway, a dynamic and irreversible process," Putin said on Wednesday on the second day of the three-day summit, which will expand the BRICS grouping to up to 22 members. Among those attending the event in Kazan were Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as the leaders of Iran, India, South Africa, Egypt, the UAE, and Ethiopia.

With Putin determined to broaden Moscow's network of alliances across the globe, it is clear that his desire to challenge the West's dominance is not merely confined to the battlefields of Ukraine.