Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on July 25 that Russia intends to bring in an additional 30,000 North Korean troops to back its military campaign in Ukraine. He added that preparations have been underway since June in Russia’s Voronezh region to receive these forces [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8].
North Korea has already deployed between 14,000 and 20,000 elite troops and military engineers to Russia’s Kursk region since October 2024, under a mutual defense treaty signed in June 2024. These deployments are intended to assist Russia against Ukrainian forces [1, 2, 3, 9, 5, 6, 8]. Some estimates place the total current North Korean troop presence in Russia at about 14,000 to 20,000 personnel [2, 6].
Zelensky warned that Russia's cooperation with North Korea is a threat not only to Ukraine but also to all Asian countries within North Korean missile range. He said Russia is helping North Korea improve its weapons, gain combat experience, and learn to wage war [1, 2].
North Korea is also preparing to supply Russia with new ballistic missile launchers as part of enhanced military cooperation [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8]. The expanded troop deployments and weapons transfers deepen strategic ties between Russia and North Korea and complicate prospects for diplomacy between North Korea and the US [2, 10].
The South Korean government said on July 27 it is closely monitoring Russia-North Korea military collaboration but has not yet found evidence of any new North Korean troop deployments beyond what is already known [10].
Russia’s buildup of North Korean forces in Voronezh since June 2026 marks the latest step in enlarging Moscow’s military capacity on the Ukraine front [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8].
The coming weeks will be watched closely for any movement of the planned 30,000 additional North Korean troops into Russia or Ukraine.
