North Korean leader Kim Jong-un poses for a commemorative photo with war veterans and persons of wartime merits who took part in celebrations marking the 73rd anniversary of its self-declared Victory Day on July 28, 2026, in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency on July 29. (KCNA-Yonhap) North Korea and Russia are considering a plan to increase Pyongyang's troop deployment to 50,000 by the end of November, according to a report by Kyodo News on Wednesday citing Ukraine's Defence Intelligence.North Korean forces will likely take on a larger role in Russia's western border regions to free up Russian troops for the front lines in Ukraine.If implemented, the plan would mark a significant expansion of North Korea's military involvement in Russia's war against Ukraine. Observers speculate the move could both intensify the conflict and have broader security implications for East Asia by allowing a larger number of North Korean troops to gain combat experience.According to Kyodo, Ukraine's Defence Intelligence obtained a provisional Russian military plan outlining the expanded deployment. The plan calls for increasing the number of North Korean troops in Russia to 50,000 by the end of November to help Moscow capture Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, comprising the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, by the end of the year.The reported plan echoes recent remarks by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has repeatedly warned that Russia is preparing to receive additional North Korean troops."Russia wants to receive another 30,000 troops from North Korea," Zelenskyy wrote on X on July 26. "Since June, preparations have been underway in Russia's Voronezh region to receive them."In an interview with a Ukrainian broadcaster released Sunday, Zelenskyy said North Korea's troop presence in Russia had grown from hundreds to thousands and that Moscow had now decided to station between 30,000 and 50,000 North Korean troops on Russian territory.The expansion is reportedly being considered as Russia seeks reinforcements following heavy battlefield losses. Ukraine estimates that more than 42,000 Russian troops were killed or wounded in July alone.Under the provisional plan, the expanded North Korean contingent is expected to be deployed across three western Russian regions bordering Ukraine. While most North Korean troops have so far been stationed in Russia's Kursk region, the plan reportedly calls for expanding their presence to Bryansk and Belgorod, with North Korean forces assuming most military duties in the three regions.The move would allow Russia to redeploy its own forces from those areas to the front lines in eastern Ukraine. A Ukrainian intelligence official said the plan is expected to receive final approval from the leaders of Russia and North Korea.Russia and North Korea signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty in Pyongyang in June 2024, committing each side to provide military assistance if the other comes under armed attack.North Korea began sending troops to Russia's Kursk region in late 2024. Ukrainian authorities estimate that the total number of North Korean troops deployed to Russia has reached between 11,000 and 14,000, with approximately 9,500 ground troops currently stationed there.Separately, Ukraine's Defence Intelligence said North Korea has recently begun deploying about 90 missile troops to Russia's Voronezh region. It also alleged that Pyongyang has supplied Russia with an additional 40 ballistic missiles, some of which may have been used in strikes near Kryvyi Rih in late July and in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region earlier this month.