North Korea boosts support for Russia to include drone operators, says Ukraine

Kyiv – A new wave of North Korean troops, already numbering 8, 500 in Russia, contains a drone unit that could attack targets inside Ukraine, according to a senior Ukrainian intelligence official.

Key points

• He remarked that before August last year, at least 150 KN 23 or KN 24 ballistic missiles had been sent by North Korea for apply inside Ukraine, and another 120 were promised.
• On top of Putin's probable request for more troops, some 25, 000 North Koreans have so far been deployed or rotated through Russia's military, Skibitskiy went on.
• Skibitskiy remarked the North Korean troops already deployed are spread mostly in Russia's Kursk region and include a thousand engineers and deminers.
• Such a move would mark a significant expansion of Moscow and Pyongyang's military cooperation and comes as Ukraine is running painfully short of air defenses.
• North Korea's willingness to sustain such losses reflects the reach of Russia's global alliances and Moscow's need for extra manpower.

North Korea, who signed a NATO-style mutual defense pact with Russia two years ago, has been sending troops to assist Moscow's military operations since late 2024 and may be asked to contribute up to 50, 000 more when President Vladimir Putin meets his counterpart Kim Jong Un in September, according to Major General Vadym Skibitskiy, Deputy Head of Ukrainian Defense Intelligence. Such a move would mark a significant expansion of Moscow and Pyongyang's military cooperation and comes as Ukraine is running painfully short of air defenses. It is another sign that Russia's resources are stretched thin and welcoming to assistance, despite public statements of their economic resilience and military-industrial capacity.

Skibitskiy remarked the North Korean troops already deployed are spread mostly in Russia's Kursk region and include a thousand engineers and deminers. They additionally comprise 400 drone operators, numerous of whom have gained experience either in or from previous North Korean deployments, and whose drones will probable be employed to both survey and attack targets inside Ukraine.

North Korea's deepening ties with Russia are troubling plenty of in the NATO alliance, particularly after President Donald Trump unveiled on Sunday that military drills with South Korea would be scaled down so as not to antagonize Kim Jong Un – the reclusive North Korean leader whom Trump is eager to meet with again. Kim's powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, denied claims that tens of thousands more North Koreans would shortly join Russia's efforts, calling it a "groundless self-fabricated scenario." Ukrainian intelligence suggests North Korean troops sent to Russia will not fight on Ukrainian territory, Skibitskiy stated, but will reinforce Russia's rear positions, freeing up Russian troops for assaults inside Ukraine.

Although Ukraine first cautioned that North Korean troops were using attack drones on their territory last October, this is the first indication the new wave of troops will have this capability. On top of Putin's probable request for more troops, some 25, 000 North Koreans have so far been deployed or rotated through Russia's military, Skibitskiy went on. The first North Korean deployment began in the Kursk region in October 2024, to repel a Ukrainian incursion, the first on Russian soil since the Nazis. North Korea remained silent for months regarding its initial deployment of troops to assist Russia's war machine, only confirming its soldiers were fighting against Ukraine in April 2025. Meanwhile, an estimated 10, 000 North Koreans were deployed and suffered significant casualties, having applied suicidal tactics to rush Ukrainian positions en masse.

Notably, the wounded returned to North Korea able to teach their colleagues regarding drone warfare and the new reality of the tech-dominated frontlines.

Highlighting the strength of the two countries' ties, Russian state media has shown images of North Korean troops in training inside Russia over the past year, and Kim Jong Un opened a memorial to North Korea's Ukraine dead in April.

Skibitskiy additionally highlighted the extent to which North Korea is helping with missile technology for Russia's offensive.

He remarked that before August last year, at least 150 KN 23 or KN 24 ballistic missiles had been sent by North Korea for apply inside Ukraine, and another 120 were promised. Such weapons are proving increasingly tough for Kyiv to shoot down, with supplies of US Patriot interceptors – one of the few systems capable of taking down ballistic missiles pretty much exhausted.

Forty of those have been delivered, Skibitskiy remarked, and two are suspected to have been employed in Radushne, in the Dnipro Region, on 30 July in an attack that killed at least four children from the same family.

Regarding 90 personnel have been sent to Voronzeh to assist with missile launches, he stated, with ten sizeable cargo flights, possibly containing missiles from North Korea, landing in the Baltimore aerodrome in Voronezh area.

For now, north Korea boosts support for Russia to include drone operators, says Ukraine remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.