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

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.

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 said the North Korean troops already deployed are spread mostly in Russia’s Kursk region and include a thousand engineers and deminers. They also comprise 400 drone operators, many of whom have gained experience either in or from previous North Korean deployments, and whose drones will likely be used to both survey and attack targets inside Ukraine.

North Korea’s deepening ties with Russia are troubling many in the NATO alliance, particularly after President Donald Trump announced 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 soon 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 said, but will reinforce Russia’s rear positions, freeing up Russian troops for assaults inside Ukraine.

Although Ukraine first warned 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 likely request for more troops, some 25,000 North Koreans have so far been deployed or rotated through Russia’s military, Skibitskiy added.

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 about its initial deployment of troops to help Russia’s war machine, only confirming its soldiers were fighting against Ukraine in April 2025. An estimated 10,000 North Koreans were deployed and suffered significant casualties, having used suicidal tactics to rush Ukrainian positions en masse.

North Korea’s willingness to sustain such losses reflects the reach of Russia’s global alliances and Moscow’s need for extra manpower. The wounded returned to North Korea able to teach their colleagues about 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 also highlighted the extent to which North Korea is helping with missile technology for Russia’s offensive.

He said that before August last year, at least 150 KN 23 or KN 24 ballistic missiles had been sent by North Korea for use inside Ukraine, and another 120 were promised. Such weapons are proving increasingly difficult 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.

Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/Reuters

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

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

Skibitskiy said more modern versions of the missiles had an extended range of 800km, but often landed 15-19km off target. He said North Korea was using the launches into Ukraine to improve their targeting and payload.

In return for supplying Russia with manpower and munitions, North Korea has asked for the Russian S400 air defence system and has already received a Pantsir 1 surface to air missile launcher, Skibitskiy said

据一位乌克兰高级情报官员称，新一波朝鲜军队（目前已在俄罗斯驻扎 8500 人）中包含一个无人机部队，该部队可以攻击乌克兰境内的目标。

据乌克兰国防情报局副局长瓦迪姆·斯基比茨基少将称，朝鲜两年前与俄罗斯签署了北约式的共同防御条约，自2024年底以来一直在向莫斯科派遣军队协助其军事行动，并且可能会在9月份普京总统与金正恩会晤时被要求再增派多达5万名士兵。

此举将标志着莫斯科和平壤军事合作的显著扩展，而此时乌克兰的防空力量正严重不足。这再次表明，尽管俄罗斯公开宣称其经济韧性和军工实力雄厚，但其资源已捉襟见肘，并乐于接受援助。

斯基比茨基表示，目前已部署的朝鲜军队主要分布在俄罗斯库尔斯克边疆区，其中包括一千名工程兵和排雷兵。此外，他们还拥有400名无人机操作员，其中许多人曾在朝鲜军队服役期间或之后积累了经验，他们的无人机很可能被用于侦察和攻击乌克兰境内的目标。

朝鲜与俄罗斯日益密切的关系令北约联盟中的许多成员感到担忧，尤其是在美国总统唐纳德·特朗普周日宣布将缩减与韩国的军事演习规模，以免激怒朝鲜领导人金正恩之后——特朗普渴望再次与这位行事低调的朝鲜领导人会面。

金正恩的妹妹金与正否认了数万名朝鲜人即将加入俄罗斯行动的说法，称其为“毫无根据的自造情景”。

斯基比茨基表示，乌克兰情报部门认为，派往俄罗斯的朝鲜军队不会在乌克兰领土上作战，而是会加强俄罗斯的后方阵地，从而使俄罗斯军队能够腾出手来对乌克兰境内发动进攻。

尽管乌克兰早在去年10月就警告称朝鲜军队在其领土上使用攻击型无人机，但这是首次有迹象表明新一批朝鲜军队也具备这种能力。斯基比茨基补充说，除了普京可能要求增兵之外，迄今为止已有约2.5万名朝鲜士兵被部署或轮换到俄罗斯军队服役。

朝鲜首次向俄罗斯库尔斯克地区部署兵力是在2024年10月，目的是击退乌克兰的入侵——这是自纳粹德国以来乌克兰军队首次入侵俄罗斯领土。朝鲜对最初向俄罗斯派遣军队协助其战争机器一事保持了数月的沉默，直到2025年4月才承认其士兵正在与乌克兰作战。据估计，约有1万名朝鲜士兵被部署到该地区，并遭受了重大伤亡，他们采取了自杀式战术，集体冲向乌克兰阵地。

朝鲜愿意承受如此巨大的损失，反映了俄罗斯全球联盟的影响力以及莫斯科对额外兵力的需求。这些伤员返回朝鲜后，能够向他们的战友传授无人机作战以及科技主导的前线新形势。

为了凸显两国关系的牢固性，俄罗斯国家媒体在过去一年中播放了朝鲜军队在俄罗斯境内训练的画面，金正恩还在4月份为在乌克兰阵亡的朝鲜士兵揭幕了纪念碑。

斯基比茨基还强调了朝鲜在多大程度上帮助俄罗斯进行导弹攻势。

他表示，去年8月之前，朝鲜至少向乌克兰运送了150枚KN-23或KN-24型弹道导弹，并承诺再运送120枚。由于美国“爱国者”拦截导弹——少数几种能够拦截弹道导弹的系统之一——的库存几乎耗尽，基辅越来越难以拦截此类武器。

维亚切斯拉夫·马迪耶夫斯基/路透社

斯基比茨基说，其中 40 枚炸弹已经交付，据信有两枚炸弹于 7 月 30 日在第聂伯罗州拉杜什内发动袭击时被使用，该袭击造成至少 4 名来自同一家庭的儿童死亡。

他说，大约有 90 名人员被派往沃罗涅日协助导弹发射，十架大型货运飞机（可能载有来自朝鲜的导弹）降落在沃罗涅日地区的巴尔的摩机场。

斯基比茨基表示，这些导弹的较新型号射程可达800公里，但经常偏离目标15至19公里。他说，朝鲜正利用向乌克兰的发射来改进其瞄准和有效载荷能力。

斯基比茨基表示，作为向俄罗斯提供人力和弹药的回报，朝鲜要求俄罗斯提供S-400防空系统，并且已经收到了一套“铠甲1”型地对空导弹发射系统。