STORY: The head of NATO on Tuesday warned that the transfer of North Korean troops to fight for Russia in Ukraine would be what he called a significant escalation.

“If they would be sending troops to Ukraine, that would mark a significant escalation. That would really be important.”

Secretary-General Mark Rutte was in Estonia for meetings with the NATO members, and said he didn’t yet have confirmation Pyongyang had deployed soldiers to assist Moscow’s fight.

It’s the latest warning that North Korea may soon step directly or indirectly into the conflict on the side of Russia.

Here’s the UK defense minister speaking in Parliament on Tuesday:

“It is now highly likely that the transfer of hundreds of combat troops from North Korea to Russia has begun.”

The Kremlin on Monday declined to directly answer a question on whether North Korean troops were going to fight in Ukraine.

A Kremlin spokesman said Moscow’s cooperation with Pyongyang was not directed against third countries.

It’s been more than two years since Russian forces stormed into Ukraine in what Moscow called a “special military operation.”

But tenacious defenders armed with Western weaponry drove back the initial onslaught…

And what appeared intended to be a quick conquest turned into a long and bloody war.

Moscow has been forced to supplement its military with new conscripts to sustain the fight.

The latest reports suggest it may now be looking beyond its own borders for soldiers.

South Korea’s spy agency said last week that North Korea had shipped 1,500 special forces troops to Russia’s Far East for training at military bases and that they were likely to be deployed for combat in Ukraine.

And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accused Pyongyang of preparing to send as many as 12,000 soldiers to Russia.

UPSOUND WOOD: “In its failure to overthrow Ukraine’s democratically elected government, Russia is seeking to expand the conflict.”

The U.S. deputy envoy to the United Nations told the Security Council on Monday it had seen reports that North Korean soldiers could soon join the fight.

“If true, this marks a dangerous and highly concerning development.”

The notion of North Korea soldiers fighting a Russian war on European soil prompted this response from the president of Finland:

“Well, I think we’re just seeing how desperate Russia is. I mean, pose the question to anyone in the world: Would you like to have North Korean soldiers fighting on your side? And the answer is probably no.”

South Korea’s deputy national security adviser on Tuesday said Seoul would consider countermeasures, which could mean directly supplying lethal weapons to Kyiv, in response to closer military ties between Russia and North Korea.