North Korean missile unit deploys in Russia for Ukraine war, Kyiv says
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- Ukraine's military intelligence said a North Korean missile unit of around 90 personnel is deploying to the Voronezh region within Russia's 112th Missile Brigade, with expectations of 120 ballistic missiles and six launchers
- Russia fired its first two North Korean missiles at Ukraine since August 2025 last week, drawing from a new batch of 40 KN-23 and KN-24 missiles Pyongyang supplied alongside personnel
- North Korea's KN-23 and KN-24 missiles have greater range and larger payload than Russia's Iskander but are much less accurate and have been linked to high civilian-casualty strikes, including one that flattened a home in Radushne, killing at least five family members
- Ukraine is very short of high-end air defenses, and ballistic missiles like the Iskander 9M723 can only be stopped by U.S.-made Patriot systems, making winter a particularly vulnerable period if Russia targets the power grid
- North Korea supplied 150 KN-23 and KN-24 missiles to Russia between late 2023 and August 2025, with the deployment's final configuration to be set at top-level talks next month
- Zelensky said last month the Kremlin wants North Korea to send another 30,000 troops, with Russian preparations already under way in the Voronezh region; roughly 9,500 North Korean troops are currently in Russia's Kursk region but not directly engaged in combat operations
Why it matters: Ukraine's dwindling Patriot-class air defenses cannot reliably intercept ballistic missiles, and the addition of 120 less-accurate but longer-range North Korean missiles — explicitly linked to civilian mass-casualty strikes — raises the cost of every incoming round for Kyiv, particularly during winter power-grid attacks Russia has used in past years. The deployment also signals that the 2024 Moscow-Pyongyang mutual defense pact is moving from artillery shells and infantry into direct missile forces.
