ISTANBUL

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that the first battles between his military and North Korean troops are the next step toward global "instability."

“The first battles with North Korean soldiers open a new page of instability in the world. Together with the world, we must do everything to make this Russian step to expand the war – to really escalate it – to make this step a failure,” Zelenskyy said in an evening video address.

Thanking countries that denounced the deployment of North Korean soldiers to Russia, Zelenskyy said their reaction to the expansion of the conflict must be “sufficient” and “strong enough.”

Zelenskyy’s remarks came hours after Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov told South Korean television channel, KBS, that his troops had “small scale” engagements with North Korean soldiers.

If true, it would be the first such engagement since South Korea made claims last month that Pyongyang transported thousands of soldiers to Russia, which has engaged in a gruesome conflict with Ukraine that is approaching day 1,000.

South Korea's Defense Ministry claimed last Tuesday that 10,000 North Korean troops were deployed in Russia.

Neither North Korea nor Russia has commented on the allegations, though the Kremlin has asserted its right to build relations with Pyongyang, describing it as a matter of Russian sovereignty.​​​​​​​