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North Korean troops and Russia's widening war
Summary
A look back at 21 October 2024 and the foreign hands already visible in the war in Ukraine in the days before it.
What did the war in Ukraine look like on 21 October 2024, and who else was already part of it? The preceding days had pointed to a conflict drawing in more outside actors, with the clearest signal coming from the Korean peninsula.
North Korea steps forward
On 16 October 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said North Korea had become directly involved in the war. A senior Ukrainian intelligence official put the number of North Korean troops in Russia at around 3,000, training for deployment to Russian-occupied territories. Two days later, on 18 October, South Korea's National Intelligence Service said Pyongyang had begun sending troops to fight alongside Russia. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called a security meeting and said the international community must respond with all available means.
Weapons and sanctions
The other external flows were material rather than human. On 15 October, the European Union sanctioned fourteen Iranian individuals and firms, among them Iran Air and several high-ranking members of the Quds Force, over allegations that they had transferred missiles and drones to Moscow. The following day, 16 October, U.S. President Joe Biden announced a new $425 million military aid package for Ukraine that included long-range weaponry.
A Russian link in Sudan
The date itself brought a different episode. On 21 October 2024 an Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane crashed in North Darfur, Sudan, killing its crew of two Russians and three Sudanese nationals. The Rapid Support Forces claimed they had shot the aircraft down with a surface-to-air missile and said they had recovered its flight recorder. Russia said its diplomats in Sudan were investigating the crash.
What the picture showed
Taken together, the reports from this period describe a war with several outside participants: Iran accused of supplying weapons to Russia, North Korea accused of supplying troops, and the United States supplying Ukraine. The Sudan crash is a separate matter, and the reports do not link it to the war in Ukraine. Its only connection here is that Russian nationals were among the dead.
The responses on offer were still taking shape. The EU used sanctions, Washington used military aid, and Seoul pressed for a collective reply without spelling out what it would involve.
