About 2 000 North Korean soldiers have already died in Russiaʼs war against Ukraine.
This was reported by South Korean intelligence, Yonhap reports.
According to intelligence, North Korea plans to send an additional 6 000 troops to Russia — this will be the third batch of troops to assist Moscow in the war against Ukraine.
Since October last year, North Korea has sent about 13 000 troops to support Russiaʼs military efforts.
The Union of Russia and the DPRK
Russia is using North Korean soldiers in the war with Ukraine — the first of them arrived at the front in October 2024, when it was about 12 000 people. And in March 2025, North Korea sent another 3 thousand soldiers.
Initially, both sides denied this, but on April 26 of this year, Russia officially acknowledged for the first time the participation of North Korean troops in the war against Ukraine. Two days later, North Korea confirmed that its troops were participating in Russiaʼs full-scale war against Ukraine, including fighting on the Kursk direction.
In addition to manpower, the DPRK provides Russia with weapons. As early as January 4, 2024, Western media wrote that Russia had received a batch of ballistic missiles from the DPRK (several dozen) and launchers for them. On the same day, the US officially stated that Russia had short-range ballistic missiles from the DPRK and had launched them over Ukraine.
The head of GUR Kyrylo Budanov said in January 2025 that North Korea plans to send another 150 ballistic missiles to Russia this year.
In April, Reuters reported that North Korea had handed over up to 6 million shells to Russia. Without them, Russia would not have been able to wage war so actively. At some points last year, the majority of the shells used by individual Russian units were North Korean. In some places, it was 100%. The publication noted that this was Russiaʼs most significant direct military assistance in the war.
In July, Ukrainian intelligence noted that North Korea intends to triple the number of its military fighting on the side of Russia and send an additional 25 000 to 30 000 soldiers to help Moscow.
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