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

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’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….

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….

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.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….

Kyiv – 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.