The number of North Korean forces is small so far, at least 3,000, the U.S. says, compared with the hundreds of thousands the West estimates have been killed in Ukraine on both sides. But they may allow Russia to reorganize and push forward, and if it works, North Korea can send more. It has a million-strong army.

Putin didn’t deny that North Korea was sending soldiers to Russia, initially resorting to sarcasm when NBC News asked about it.

He then pointed to Russia’s new strategic agreement with North Korea, which allows the countries to protect each other.

“We are in contact with our North Korean friends. We’ll see how that process develops,” he said.

Earlier, Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the reports were “fake and hype,” local media reported.

“I am very concerned,” James Stavridis, a retired U.S. Navy admiral and the former supreme commander of NATO forces, told MSNBC on Wednesday. “It’s a real boost for the Russians. And I can assure you, those will be well-trained, capable North Koreans.”

And the North Korean personnel may also have a psychological impact on already beleaguered Ukrainian forces, the implicit message from Russia being: “We can keep fighting for a long time.”

All that can change the mindsets in other countries, too. 

The war is effectively widening to include Asia. Which other leaders might decide to send their forces into the battlefield? And if a North Korean soldier is killed with NATO weapons, how does the often-unpredictable Kim respond?

This week South Korea summoned the Russian ambassador, seeking the “immediate withdrawal” of North Korean troops from Russia. In a meeting with the ambassador, Georgiy Zinoviev, South Korea’s vice foreign minister, Kim Hong-kyun, warned that Seoul will “respond with all measures available.”

Another political impact may be felt by those countries occupying the ground between Russia and the West. 

On the stage this week with Putin, Xi and Pezeshkian were leaders of countries like Brazil, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and India. All of them are partners of the U.S. in trade and/or security. They are also members of the group known as BRICS — representing 41.1% of the world’s population and 37.3% of its gross domestic product — which convened in the eastern Russian city of Kazan for its annual summit.

As the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East escalate, it gets harder to walk that neutral line.

“We are a partner of the United States and a partner of other countries, too,” Brazilian Foreign Affairs Minister Mauro Vieira said in an interview at the gathering.

Asked whether he had raised with Putin the dangers of another country’s sending troops to fight Ukraine, he demurred: “I never heard about that before. He didn’t tell me about it. I don’t know.”

Today many ordinary Russians say they want peace.