North Korea Russia military cooperation has entered a new phase as a North Korean missile unit begins deploying to western Russia. The unit could be equipped with up to 120 ballistic missiles and six launchers for attacks on Ukraine, and it is expected to be based in the Voronezh region.
The unit comprises about 90 North Korean personnel. The U.S. is aware of the deployment, which comes after North Korea already supplied 40 missiles and at least two were launched at Ukraine last week during a deadly strike.
Zelenskyy on Voronezh facilities
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in July that Russia wanted to bring in 30,000 North Korean troops and was preparing facilities in Voronezh to receive them. That estimate sat alongside the wider picture of North Korea’s role in Russia’s war against Ukraine: troops, missiles, ammunition, and support personnel moving into the same military supply chain.
Ukrainian and South Korean estimates put North Korean troop deployments in Kursk at around 14,000 to 15,000, while Zelenskyy said Russia wanted to bring in 30,000 North Korean troops. North Korean soldiers helped Moscow’s forces repel a surprise Ukrainian ground incursion, and around 9,500 North Korean troops remained in Kursk this month but were not directly involved in operations against Ukraine.
Kursk and Russia's support network
Russia and North Korea confirmed in April 2025 that North Korean troops had fought Ukrainian forces in Kursk. Sergei Shoigu said in June 2025 that North Korea would send 1,000 sappers and 5,000 military construction workers to Kursk, with those teams meant to clear mines and help rebuild infrastructure damaged in the fighting.
North Korea has also supplied Russia with millions of artillery and mortar rounds, ballistic missiles, long-range artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems. Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said North Korea had delivered 4 million artillery shells since mid-2023, excluding mortar rounds, and had supplied 148 KN-23 and KN-24 ballistic missiles by the start of 2025.
Rajin shipments to Ukraine
Between September 2023 and March 2025, four Russian-flagged cargo ships made 64 voyages to North Korea’s Rajin port and transported nearly 16,000 containers of ammunition to Russian ports. Ukrainian officials said North Korea was supplying about half of the munitions Russia needed on the front lines.
The open question now is how many engineers, deminers or additional troops have arrived in Russia, and whether any of them have been used in combat roles. A North Korean missile unit is now on the move, but the full size of the wider North Korean footprint in western Russia is still not fully visible.
