North Korean troops on Ukraine’s border exhibits Putin is ‘determined’ says Starmer

Keir Starmer has said the growing number of North Korean troops on Ukraine’s borders is a sign of Vladimir Putin’s “desperation”.

He made the remarks at a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky. A Downing Street spokesman said: “The Prime Minister expressed his deep concern at the growing number of North Korean troops on the Ukrainian border.

“He said this was proof of Putin’s increasing desperation. He said the UK will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes for Russia to withdraw.”

The meeting, at the European Political Community summit in Hungary came amid growing uncertainty after Donald Trump’s US Presidential election win. The Republican has claimed he wants to end the war “within a day”.

But it’s sparked speculation about whether doing this would mean imposing peace with favourable terms for Vladimir Putin. Mr Trump has refused to explicitly back a Ukrainian victory.

Mr Starmer told Mr Zelensky at the European Political Community summit in Hungary: “”As you know, our support for Ukraine is unwavering. And I strongly believe that not only should it be unwavering, but we need to step up, and I was very pleased to be able to say that (today).

“It’s very important that we see this through. It’s very important that we stand with you.” The Ukrainian leader replied: “We’re very thankful. We’re very proud that we have such bilateral relations between our nations.

“Thank you for sticking with us all through this tough period.” Nato secretary general Mark Rutte said Mr Trump’s first term had encouraged Europe to spend more on defence but “we need to do more”.

He said the US must be wary of the danger posed by Russia’s alliance with North Korea, China and Iran.

“If Russia would be successful in Ukraine, you would have an emboldened Russia at our border, having gained land mass, having gained the huge defence force of Ukraine, but also the ingenuity of the Ukrainian people,” he said.

“So that will be a threat not only to the European part of Nato, but also to the United States.

“And that’s why, collectively, we have to work not only on the threat of Russia, but also the fact that these four countries work together, and that now, very soon, we will see that also the US itself is under threat from these newest technological developments thanks to Russia giving its latest insights and technology to the North Koreans.”