Volodymyr Zelensky: We don't want to wage a world war, we want to stop the Russians

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed confidence that North Korea (DPRK) could still send soldiers to war against Ukraine. But "Europe cannot assemble such an army". The Ukrainian president compared the aid that the DPRK sends to Russia and that which Europe provides to Ukraine in an interview with American podcaster Lex Friedman, UNIAN reports.

"North Korea has sent 12,000 servicemen to the war against Ukraine, of whom 3,800 have been killed or wounded so far," Zelensky said.

He added that this country could send another 30-40 thousand. soldiers in the war. "And they can be even 500 (thousands). They can bring a lot of people. Why? Because they have orders", the Ukrainian president noted.

At the same time, he emphasized that Europe cannot do such a thing. "Will Europe be able to gather an army that will consist of 2-3 million people? No. Europe will not want to do it. And for what purpose? We do not want to wage a world war with you. There is no such purpose... We want to stop the Russians", Zelensky noted and added that "currently the Russian Federation is inviting North Korean soldiers".

"They are burning their faces. Those who cannot escape - the wounded or killed... So that they are unrecognizable", says the Ukrainian president.

Furthermore, Zelensky notes that last year Europe gave Ukraine a million 155-mm shells. There were also Ukrainian-made shells. “We produced more”, Zelensky specifies.

But, he notes, “North Korea gave Putin 3.7 million, which suggests that today Russia also has a deficit, so Putin needs time”.

In 2023, the EU promised to transfer a million shells to Ukraine by the spring of 2024, but in fact only half of the quantity was transferred due to production problems, Ukrainian media wrote.

In August, Ukraine already received 700,000 shells. In November, it became known that Europe had almost fulfilled its promise to deliver one million artillery shells to Ukraine.