The video appears to show North Korean soldiers preparing for war in Ukraine at a Russian military training ground

• Ukraine has released a video purporting to show North Korean troops in Russia.

• The video was published by the Ukrainian government's Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security.

• The center said the footage shows the troops “equipped in Russian equipment.”

A new video released by the Ukrainian government's Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security appears to show North Korean soldiers at a Russian military base.

The center said the footage shows North Korean troops being “equipped in Russian equipment” at Russia's Sergievsky training range “in preparation for their deployment to Ukraine.”

Business Insider could not independently verify the footage.

This came after South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) said on Friday that thousands of North Korean troops were ready to join Russian forces in Ukraine.

The NIS said that North Korean soldiers were being transported from the North on Russian Navy ships and that around 1,500 North Korean special forces were already in Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told a NATO news conference on Thursday that Ukraine had information that North Korea was preparing to send 10,000 soldiers to the occupied territories of Ukraine.

“We have information that North Korea has sent tactical personnel and officers to temporarily occupied areas in Ukraine and is preparing 10,000 soldiers on their land, but has not yet deployed them to Ukraine or Russia,” he said.

NATO chief Mark Rutte said in Brussels on Friday: “Our official position is that we cannot confirm reports that North Koreans are now actively involved as soldiers in the war effort.”

“Even though North Korea is not physically present on the battlefield, it is still helping in every possible way to fuel Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine,” Rutte added.

Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said the U.S. was “reviewing” the claims.

“We cannot confirm or substantiate these reports,” he said Thursday. “If that is true, it would be evidence of intensifying cooperation between Russia and North Korea.”

If the involvement of North Korean troops in the conflict is confirmed, it would be North Korea's first major involvement in a war since the 1950-1953 Korean War.

Read the original article on Business Insider