Ukraine's Zelenskyy urges allies to act before North Korean troops reach the front

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged its allies to stop “watching” and take steps before North Koreans troops deployed in Russia reach the battlefield.

Zelenskyy raised the prospect of a preemptive Ukrainian strike on camps where the North Korean troops are being trained, and said Kyiv knows their location. But he said Ukraine can’t do it without permission from allies to use Western-made long-range weapons to hit targets deep inside Russia.

“But instead … America is watching, Britain is watching, Germany is watching. Everyone is just waiting for the North Korean military to start attacking Ukrainians as well,” Zelenskyy said in a post late Friday on the Telegram messaging app.

The Biden administration said Thursday that some 8,000 North Korean soldiers are now in Russia’s Kursk region near Ukraine’s border and are preparing to help the Kremlin fight against Ukrainian troops in the coming days.

On Saturday, Ukraine's military intelligence said that more than 7,000 North Koreans equipped with Russian gear and weapons had been transported to areas near Ukraine. The agency, known by its acronym GUR, said that North Korean troops were being trained at five locations in Russia's Far East. It did not specify its source of information.

Western leaders have described the North Korean troop deployment as a significant escalation that could also jolt relations in the Indo-Pacific region, and open the door to technology transfers from Moscow to Pyongyang that could advance the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile program.

North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui met with her Russian counterpart in Moscow in Friday.

Ukrainian leaders have repeatedly said they need permission to use Western weapons to strike arms depots, airfields and military bases far from the border to motivate Russia to seek peace. In response, U.S. defense officials have argued that the missiles are limited in number, and that Ukraine is already using its own long-range drones to hit targets farther into Russia.

Moscow has also consistently signaled that it would view any such strikes as a major escalation. President Vladimir Putin warned on Sept. 12 that Russia would be “at war” with the U.S. and NATO states if they approve them.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

In this photo provided by Ukraine's 24th Mechanised Brigade press service, servicemen of the 24th Mechanised Brigade install anti-tank landmines and non explosive obstacles along the front line near Chasiv Yar town in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Wednesday Oct. 30, 2024. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Ukrainian 24th Mechanised Brigade via AP)

In this image made from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024, Russian snipers fire towards Ukrainian forces from an undisclosed location. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this image made from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024, Russian soldiers attend combat training for assault units at an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this photo provided by Ukraine's 24th Mechanised Brigade press service, a serviceman of the 24th Mechanised Brigade installs landmines and non explosive obstacles along the front line near Chasiv Yar town in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Wednesday Oct. 30, 2024. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Ukrainian 24th Mechanised Brigade via AP)

NEW DELHI (AP) — India officially protested on Saturday the Canadian government’s allegation that the country’s powerful home minister Amit Shah had ordered the targeting of Sikh activists inside Canada, calling it “absurd and baseless.”

Relations between the two countries soured after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last year there were credible allegations the Indian government had links to the assassination of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. India has vehemently rejected the accusation.

New Delhi — long anxious about Sikh separatist groups — has increasingly accused the Canadian government of giving free rein to separatists from a once-strong movement to create an independent Sikh homeland, known as Khalistan, in India.

The diplomatic row led to the expulsion of each other’s top diplomats last month.

“The Government of India protests in the strongest terms to the absurd and baseless references made to the Union Home Minister of India,” Randhir Jaiswal, spokesman of India’s foreign ministry told reporters Saturday.

Jaiswal also said a Canadian diplomat in New Delhi was summoned on Friday and handed out a letter to formally protest the allegation. “Such irresponsible actions will have serious consequences for bilateral ties,” he warned.

Canada’s Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister David Morrison told Parliament members of the national security committee on Tuesday that he had confirmed Shah’s name to The Washington Post, which first reported the allegations. Morrison did not explain how Canada knew of Shah’s alleged involvement.

Canadian authorities have repeatedly said they shared evidence with India whose officials deny being provided with any proof. New Delhi calls the allegations ridiculous.

Nijjar was a local leader of the Khalistan movement, banned in India. India designated him a terrorist in 2020, and at the time of his death was seeking his arrest for alleged involvement in an attack on a Hindu priest in India. He lived in Canada, where about 2% of the population is Sikh, for nearly three decades.

Shah, who is 60 years old, is responsible for India’s internal security, as the country's home minister. He is widely considered the second most powerful politician in India after Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Shah has also been a close aide of Modi for decades.

Canada is not the only country that has accused Indian officials of plotting an assassination on foreign soil. The U.S. Justice Department announced criminal charges in mid-October against an Indian government employee in connection with an alleged foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader living in New York City.

Vikash Yadav, who authorities say directed the New York plot from India, faces murder-for-hire charges in a planned killing that prosecutors have previously said was meant to precede a string of other politically motivated murders in the United States and Canada.

New Delhi at the time expressed concern and said India takes the allegations seriously.

FILE - Indian Home Minister Amit Shah speaks during a public meeting before Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel filed his nomination for the upcoming Gujarat state assembly elections in Ahmedabad, India, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)