Ukraine’s intelligence services have released audio of what they claim are Russian troops complaining about the arrival of North Korean fighters and arguing about how they will be equipped.

In one recording, a pair of soldiers can be heard ranting about the so-called ‘K Battalion’, referring to them as ‘damn Chinese’ and explaining that one of his fellow soldiers had said ‘who knows what the hell* ** we’re going to do with them’ .

Another clip from Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Service (GUR) appeared to reveal the lack of communication and planning regarding the North Korean troops’ integration with their Russian counterparts.

‘He was just talking about the K Battalion, I say: ”And who gets the guns and ammunition for them? We got rations, and from what I hear they are for the brigade,” moaned a Russian soldier.

“He was like, ‘What the hell brigade?’ You get everything.”I just said I understood everything and went outside to smoke.’

It comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sounded the alarm that troops from Pyongyang could be deployed to the front line alongside Russian forces to fight Kiev’s defenders as early as Sunday.

Russia’s lower parliament, meanwhile, unanimously ratified a defense deal with North Korea struck between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un during the Russian president’s state visit to the North Korean capital in June.

A leaked video purports to show North Korean troops in Russia being equipped with military equipment

A Russian soldier fires from D-30 howitzers at Ukrainian positions at an undisclosed location in Ukraine

Ukraine’s president has warned that North Korea’s involvement could hasten the outbreak of World War III

Putin and Kim clink glasses amid the former’s visit to Pyongyang

South Korea called on Russia to end its “illegal cooperation” with Pyongyang and expressed “great concern” this morning after Moscow ratified its defense pact, which stipulates that each party must provide help if the other person encounters aggression.

The treaty will now be sent to the upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, for approval.

Shortly after Seoul’s warning, Zelensky declared that Russia plans to send North Korean troops into battle against his country as early as Sunday, urging world leaders to put “tangible pressure” on Pyongyang.

South Korea and the United States said thousands of North Korean troops were training in Russia.

Ukraine said this week that North Korean soldiers had arrived in the “combat zone” in Russia’s Kursk border region.

While stopping short of confirming it had put boots on the ground, North Korea said any troop deployment to Russia would be in line with international law.

“(Seoul) expresses great concern over Russia’s ratification of the Russia-North Korea treaty amid the ongoing deployment of North Korean troops to Russia,” South Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

It added that the South Korean government “strongly calls for the immediate withdrawal of North Korean troops and an end to illegal cooperation”.

Seoul said it would work with allies to “take appropriate measures” over the move, and the country – a major arms exporter – has suggested it could revise long-standing policies barring it from sending arms directly to Kiev.

Zelensky, after a meeting with defense officials on Friday, said North Korean troops could be sent in to fight Ukrainian troops this weekend.

“According to intelligence reports, on October 27-28, Russia will use the first North Korean military in combat zones,” he said on social media.

“The actual involvement of North Korea in the hostilities should not be met with a closed eye and confused comments but with tangible pressure on both Moscow and Pyongyang to comply with the UN Charter and to punish escalation,” he added.

A senior official in the Ukrainian president’s office said the North Korean troops could be deployed either to Russia’s Kursk region or in eastern Ukraine.

Putin said in an interview broadcast Friday on state television that it was up to Moscow how to use the treaty’s mutual military assistance clause.

“What measures we take with this clause – it is still in question. We are in contact with our North Korean friends,” Putin said.

‘I mean to say that it is our sovereign decision whether we use something or not. Where, how, if we need this, or (if) we, for example, just carry out some exercises, training, convey some experience – that’s our business, he added.

Seoul and Washington have long claimed that the nuclear-armed North is sending large arms shipments to Russia.

One of North Korea’s UN representatives told the UN General Assembly’s First Committee on Disarmament and International Security that the country is not sending weapons or troops to help Moscow.

The accusations by South Korea and others are “nothing more than baseless rumors aimed at tarnishing the image of North Korea,” Rim Mu Song said, referring to the North by its official name.

“It’s another smear campaign prepared by Ukraine” to get “more weapons and financial support from the US and Western countries”.

North Korean soldiers are seen smashing through concrete blocks in a demonstration for Kim and senior officials

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un aims a weapon as he visits a training base

A new 600 mm rocket launcher is test-fired at an undisclosed location in North Korea

Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un will meet in Pyongyang on June 19, 2024

South Korea’s representative flagged videos circulating online of North Korean soldiers in Russian uniforms speaking Korean, but Rim said they “again completely reject the allegation” of troop deployment.

On Friday, however, a diplomatic official argued that Pyongyang would be well within its rights to deploy troops on Russian soil.

“If there is such a thing that the world media is talking about, I think it will be an act that complies with the rules of international law,” said Kim Jong Gyu, deputy foreign minister in charge of Russian affairs.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has called the deployment a “provocation that threatens global security beyond the Korean Peninsula and Europe.”

Yoon also said South Korea will “review” its stance on providing arms to Ukraine in its war with Russia, which the country has long resisted.

Seoul has already sold billions of dollars of tanks, howitzers, attack aircraft and rocket launchers to Poland, a key ally of Kiev.

In June, South Korea agreed to transfer the know-how needed to build K2 tanks to Poland, which experts have said could be an important step toward production in Ukraine.

South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace has signed a $1.64 billion deal with Poland to supply rocket artillery units.

North Korea has adopted a new national anthem, state media reported on Friday, another move that experts suspect will further leader Kim Jong Un’s drive to define his country as completely separate from, and in opposition to, the South.

North Korea amended its constitution to define the South as a “hostile” state and last week blew up roads and railways that once connected the two countries.