50,000 North Korean troops to be sent to Russia as Putin deepens military alliance with Kim Jong Un
Fifty thousand North Korean soldiers are set to be deployed to Russia as Vladimir Putin dramatically expands his military cooperation with Kim Jong Un, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned.
Listen to this article
The Ukrainian president said a decision had been made for between 30,000 and 50,000 North Korean soldiers to be sent to Russian territory, significantly increasing his previous estimate that Moscow was preparing to receive around 30,000 troops.
Mr Zelenskyy did not say how Ukraine had obtained the latest intelligence, but warned the deployment would allow Pyongyang to gain valuable experience of modern warfare while receiving Russian military technology in return.
It would represent another major escalation in North Korea’s involvement in the war, after thousands of its soldiers were already sent to fight alongside Russian forces.
“It is absolutely clear that North Korea will continue to build its experience in modern warfare, receive licences from Russia, and receive all kinds of military tools from them,” Mr Zelenskyy said.
Read more: Streeting calls for more air defence missiles for Ukraine over winter as Putin targets Kyiv
North Korea has already sent an estimated 14,000 to 15,000 soldiers to Russia’s Kursk region since 2024, where they helped Moscow’s forces fight back against Ukraine’s incursion across the border.
Russia and North Korea publicly acknowledged in April 2025 that North Korean troops had fought Ukrainian forces in Kursk.
Thousands are believed to have been killed or wounded during the fighting, although precise casualty figures remain unclear.
Around 9,500 North Korean troops were still believed to be in Kursk this month, according to a Ukrainian intelligence official cited by Reuters, although they were not directly involved in combat operations against Ukraine.
But the military relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang now appears to be moving far beyond supplying additional manpower.
Earlier this month, an official from Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency said a North Korean missile unit had begun deploying personnel and equipment to western Russia.
The unit, reportedly consisting of around 90 North Korean personnel, could eventually operate as many as 120 ballistic missiles and six launchers capable of carrying out strikes against Ukraine.
It is expected to be based in Russia’s Voronezh region.
The United States is aware of the deployment, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Ukrainian intelligence also claimed around 40 North Korean missiles had recently been supplied to Russia, with at least two used in a deadly attack on Ukraine last week.
Mr Zelenskyy said Kyiv had recovered evidence of North Korean missiles inside Ukrainian territory.
North Korea has become an increasingly important supplier to Russia as the war approaches its fifth year.
Pyongyang is estimated to have provided Moscow with millions of artillery and mortar rounds as well as KN-23 and KN-24 ballistic missiles, long-range artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems.
Four Russian-flagged cargo vessels which made 64 voyages to North Korea’s Rajin port between September 2023 and March 2025. The ships transported nearly 16,000 containers of ammunition to Russian ports.
Ukrainian officials have estimated that North Korea has at times supplied around half of the ammunition Russia requires on the front line.
Ukraine’s military intelligence has separately estimated that four million North Korean artillery shells were delivered between mid-2023 and the beginning of 2025, excluding mortar ammunition, along with 148 KN-23 and KN-24 ballistic missiles.
The deepening relationship is also causing growing concern that North Korea is effectively using the war in Ukraine as a testing ground for its weapons and soldiers.
North Korean forces have now been exposed to drone warfare, electronic warfare, artillery coordination and other battlefield tactics which have developed rapidly during the conflict.
Pyongyang’s weapons manufacturers have also been able to see how their missiles and ammunition perform against Western-supplied military equipment in real combat conditions.
In return, analysts believe North Korea could receive Russian military technology, oil, hard currency and other economic support.
Mr Zelenskyy warned: “It is absolutely clear that North Korea will continue to build its experience in modern warfare.”
The Ukrainian president used his warning to call for greater military cooperation with South Korea, particularly over desperately needed air defence systems.
Ukraine has struggled with shortages of high-end interceptors as Russia increasingly uses ballistic missiles in its attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.
“We would very much like to receive support from South Korea in an area where we have a shortage,” Mr Zelenskyy said, referring to air defence.
“We are ready to work on the Drone Deal and other areas as well.”
He added that Ukrainian diplomats were already in contact with Seoul over possible agreements.
The increasingly open military alliance between Russia and North Korea follows a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty signed by Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un during the Russian president’s visit to Pyongyang in June 2024.
The agreement includes a mutual assistance clause if either country faces external aggression.
North Korea has described its involvement in the conflict as legitimate assistance to an ally, with Kim saying last year that participation in the war was an exercise of Pyongyang’s sovereign rights in defence of a “brother nation”.
The United States and its allies say the troop deployments and weapons transfers violate UN Security Council resolutions imposed over North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.
Nato has also warned that Russia’s growing military and economic relationships with North Korea, China and Iran pose a security threat extending far beyond the war in Ukraine.