WASHINGTON—On August 10, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that the Kremlin has decided to deploy between 30,000 and 50,000 North Korean troops on Russian soil. According to a Ukrainian intelligence official, Moscow has also recently deployed 120 KN-23/KN-24 ballistic missiles, six launchers, and ninety North Korean military personnel in Russia’s western Voronezh region. The reports came shortly after news broke that the United States is reconsidering granting Ukraine a license to produce Patriot interceptor missiles.
While troop transfers are significant, North Korea’s ballistic missiles may prove more consequential in the battle for Ukraine’s skies. The ground war has stalled along a drone-enforced, thirty-kilometer-wide “kill zone” at the front line, while Kyiv faces acute shortages of US-made antiballistic missile interceptors, which have provided Ukraine with its most effective defense against ballistic missiles.
North Korea is becoming part of Russia’s war machine
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, North Korea has become one of Russia’s most direct and consequential backers, providing troops, missiles, ammunition, specialist military personnel, and labor. In exchange, Pyongyang has received hard currency, energy supplies, and military technologies worth at least $14 billion over the past three years.
