Russian dependence on N. Korea in Ukraine invasion deepens

By AFP and Global Watch | 2025-06-23

Moscow's deepening reliance on North Korea has entered a new phase, as Pyongyang prepares to send thousands of military personnel to help rebuild Russia's war-damaged Kursk province.

Ukrainian forces caught Russia by surprise when they entered Kursk province last August. They held large parts of the province for seven months. In May they attacked the province again.

The latest help from North Korea, revealed during Russian Security Council chief Sergei Shoigu's visit to Pyongyang earlier in June, underscores how critical North Korean support has become to the Kremlin's war against Ukraine.

North Korea already has dispatched thousands of troops to help Russia repel Ukrainian forces from the border province. Now, Shoigu says Pyongyang will send "a division of builders, two military brigades -- 5,000 men," as well as 1,000 mine clearance personnel, to Kursk.

"This is fraternal assistance from the Korean people and leader Kim Jong Un to our country," Shoigu was quoted as saying by Russian state media.

The countries intend to keep expanding their cooperation, he said.

This expanded support follows a broader military pact signed by the two nations in 2024, which included a mutual defense clause and opened the door to wide-ranging cooperation.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Containers of shells, missiles

"Without [Kim's] support, President Vladimir Putin wouldn't really be able to prosecute his war in Ukraine," Hugh Griffiths, former chair of the United Nations panel on North Korea sanctions, told The Guardian in April.

Pyongyang's military aid has been significant. According to satellite analysis from the Open Source Center and Reuters in April, North Korea has sent over 15,000 shipping containers since September 2023, likely containing more than 4 million shells and missiles.

Ukrainian military intelligence reports that North Korea has also transferred 148 KN-23 and KN-24 ballistic missiles -- both similar to Russia's Iskander systems -- which Moscow began using in 2024 to offset its shortage of high-precision weaponry.

Pavlo Lakiychuk, director of security projects at Ukraine's Strategy XXI Center for Global Studies, told Kontur, a sister publication of Global Watch, in April that North Korea's share of Russia's ammunition supply is now "more than 60%." At times, he said, "up to 80% of medium- and large-caliber shells were [North] Korean made."

Kim and Shoigu met in June to reinforce what North Korea's state news agency KCNA described as "powerful and comprehensive relations of strategic partnership."

As Putin's war drags on into its fourth year and Russia faces mounting isolation from the West, that partnership is fast becoming indispensable.