KYIV - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on allies on Oct 22 "not to hide" and to respond to evidence of North Korean involvement in Russia's war in Ukraine.

       He said in his nightly address that Ukraine had information about the preparation of two units - possibly up to 12,000 North Korean troops - to take part in the war alongside Russian forces.

       "This is a challenge, but we know how to respond to this challenge. It is important that partners do not hide from this challenge as well," Mr Zelensky said.

       Neither North Korea nor Russia, he said, took any account of the number of dead in a conflict.

       "But all of us in the world have an equal interest in ending the war, not in prolonging it. We must therefore stop Russia and its accomplices," he said.

       "If North Korea can intervene in a war in Europe, then the pressure on this regime is definitely insufficient."

       British Defence Secretary John Healey said on Oct 22 it was "highly likely" that North Korea had begun sending hundreds of troops to help Russia in the more than two-and-a-half-year-old conflict.

       A top US diplomat said on Oct 21 that Washington was consulting with its allies on the implications of North Korean involvement and added that such a development would be a "dangerous and highly concerning development" if true.

       Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Oct 21 the dispatch of North Korean troops would significantly escalate the conflict. REUTERS