Russia has begun deploying a North Korean missile unit, equipped with up to 120 ballistic missiles and six launchers, for use in its war against Ukraine, a Ukrainian intelligence official told Reuters.

Andrii Cherniak of Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) stated that approximately 90 North Korean personnel are expected to be stationed in Russia's western Voronezh region to support the new unit. Cherniak also claimed that Pyongyang has already delivered a fresh batch of 40 KN-23 and KN-24 ballistic missiles to Russian forces.

Final details of the deployment are expected to be finalized during high-level bilateral talks next month. This reported escalation marks a deepening military partnership between Moscow and Pyongyang.

The intelligence report follows a significant Russian barrage against Kyiv and the surrounding region on August 4, during which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Moscow launched 24 ballistic missiles, four cruise missiles, and 115 drones overnight, resulting in at least 17 deaths. Zelenskyy contended that more lives could have been saved if Western allies had replenished Ukraine's depleted stockpiles of air defense interceptors.

Cherniak told Reuters that a Russian strike in late July marked the first recorded use of North Korean ballistic missiles against Ukrainian targets since August 2025. According to HUR estimates, Russia has received approximately 150 KN-23 and KN-24 missiles from North Korea since late 2023.

Military analysts suggest that Russia is increasingly relying on ballistic weapons because they require advanced defense systems, such as the U.S.-made Patriot, to intercept. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), based in Washington, assessed that Russia is deliberately incorporating more ballistic missiles into its long-range strike packages to maximize pressure on Ukraine's limited air defenses. ISW added that North Korea is gaining critical battlefield data from the conflict, which allows Pyongyang to refine its missile performance using Russian operational experience.

North Korea has emerged as one of Moscow's key military allies since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. Reuters reported that Pyongyang has supplied millions of artillery shells and previously sent 14,000 troops to Russia's Kursk region to counter Ukraine's 2024 cross-border incursion. Cherniak also noted that roughly 9,500 North Korean troops remain in Kursk, though they are not currently engaged in active combat.

A report by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) indicates that since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, North Korea has supplied Moscow with substantial quantities of artillery and rocket ammunition, cannon and rocket artillery systems, and ballistic missiles. The FDD described the Russia-North Korea relationship as one of the "most consequential among the Axis" and the only partnership in which one member has deployed troops in combat to assist another.