Russia has started deploying a North Korean missile unit armed with as many as 120 ballistic missiles and six launchers for operations in the war against Ukraine, a Ukrainian intelligence official told Reuters on Wednesday.
The reported move points to a growing military alignment between Moscow and Pyongyang. Andrii Cherniak of Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence, known as HUR, said about 90 North Korean personnel are expected to be based in Russia’s western Voronezh region to help support the missile unit.
Cherniak also said North Korea has already supplied Russian forces with a new shipment of 40 KN-23 and KN-24 ballistic missiles, according to Reuters.
Russia has reportedly begun deploying a North Korean missile unit equipped with up to 120 ballistic missiles and six launchers for use in its war against Ukraine. (Alexander Kazakov/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
The final terms of the deployment are expected to be settled during high-level talks next month.
The Ukrainian intelligence assessment comes after Russia carried out a large-scale attack on Kyiv and the surrounding region on Aug. 4.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia fired 24 ballistic missiles and four cruise missiles overnight, along with 115 drones, killing at least 17 people.
Zelenskyy said more civilians might have survived if Western partners had restored Ukraine’s dwindling supplies of air defense interceptors.
Zelenskyy previously warned that Moscow had been preparing since June to receive additional North Korean military personnel in the Voronezh region, according to reports.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has deepened his defensive ties with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. (Getty Images)
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Cherniak told Reuters a Russian strike in late July marked the first recorded use of North Korean ballistic missiles against Ukrainian targets since August 2025.
According to HUR estimates, Russia has received approximately 150 KN-23 and KN-24 missiles from North Korea since late 2023.
Military analysts say Russia is increasingly relying on ballistic weapons because they require advanced defense systems — such as the U.S.-made Patriot — to intercept.
The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assessed that Russia is deliberately incorporating more ballistic missiles into its long-range strike packages to maximize pressure on Ukraine’s limited air defenses.
ISW added that North Korea is gaining critical battlefield data from the conflict, allowing Pyongyang to refine its missile performance using Russian operational experience.
North Korea has emerged as one of Moscow’s key military allies. (KCNA via Reuters)
North Korea has emerged as one of Moscow’s key military allies since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began.
Reuters reported that Pyongyang has supplied millions of artillery shells and previously sent 14,000 troops to Russia’s Kursk region to counter Ukraine’s 2024 cross-border incursion.
Cherniak also noted that roughly 9,500 North Korean troops are still in Kursk, though they are not engaged in active combat right now.
A report by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) states that, since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, North Korea has supplied Moscow with large quantities of artillery and rocket ammunition, cannon and rocket artillery systems and ballistic missiles.
The policy institute described the Russia-North Korea relationship as one of the “most consequential among the Axis” and the only partnership in which one member has deployed troops in combat to assist another.
