North Korea is preparing to deploy a missile unit to western Russia that could bring up to 120 ballistic missiles and six launchers into Moscow’s arsenal for attacks on Ukraine. Andrii Cherniak, a representative of Ukraine’s Military Intelligence (HUR), told Reuters that Russia plans to station around 90 North Korean personnel from the missile unit in Russia’s Voronezh region, where they would become part of the 112th Missile Brigade.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. The deployment would mark a significant expansion of military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang, which has already supplied Russia with artillery shells, troops and ballistic missiles for its war against Ukraine. Cherniak said North Korea has recently delivered another batch of around 40 KN-23 and KN-24 ballistic missiles along with personnel to Russia. The final scale and structure of the deployment are expected to be decided during high-level talks next month. According to Ukrainian intelligence, Russia expects the deployment to include 120 North Korean ballistic missiles and six launchers, although the exact role of North Korean personnel in Russian missile operations remains unclear. Russia has increasingly relied on ballistic missiles in its strikes against Ukraine, as weapons such as the Iskander and North Korea’s KN-series missiles are among the hardest for Ukrainian air defenses to intercept. The reported deployment comes after Russia last week used North Korean ballistic missiles against Ukraine for the first time since August 2025, Cherniak told Reuters.