North Korean forces are flying drones for Russia and directing strikes against targets in Ukraine, Kyiv said on Thursday, offering new details about Pyongyang’s involvement in the war.
The Ukrainian military said that the North Korean soldiers are operating in Russia’s Kursk region, where Kyiv launched a surprise cross-border offensive in August 2024. Pyongyang deployed forces there a few months later to help Moscow repel the Ukrainian advances.
From Kursk, North Korean units are using drones to conduct aerial reconnaissance missions over the neighboring Sumy region in Ukraine, identifying troop positions and supporting Russian follow-on strikes against identified targets, Kyiv said.
Ukraine has “intercepted communications between North Korean drone operators and personnel of the Russian army,” Kyiv shared in a statement published to the Telegram messaging app. It said that North Korean drone operators “adjusted the fire of multiple launch rocket systems against Ukrainian positions.”
Kyiv published footage of what appears to be a North Korean soldier squatting next to a pile of first-person-view (FPV) drones, cheap quadcopter drones that are used for both reconnaissance and strike missions.
Neither Russia’s defense ministry nor its embassy in the US immediately responded to Business Insider’s request for comment on the development.
It’s unclear how long North Korean forces have been supporting Russian operations inside of Sumy. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last month that his forces had thwarted a Russian offensive in the region.
General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces
Around 11,000 North Korean soldiers deployed to Kursk last fall to help Russia recapture hundreds of square miles of territory lost to Ukraine during its shock offensive there.
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North Korea had no experience in major combat operations before it sent troops to Russia, which trained them in drone operations, artillery, infantry tactics, and clearing out trenches. Soldiers sent to Kursk were mainly used for brutal front-line assaults. The Ukrainians said they were little more than cannon fodder.
Western intelligence estimated earlier this year that thousands of North Korean troops had been killed or wounded fighting against Ukraine. The latest update from Kyiv on Thursday suggests Pyongyang’s forces have taken on more of a support role.
Kyiv said that “due to critical manpower losses and the failure of the offensive operation in Sumy Oblast, Russian occupation forces continue to involve North Korean troops in active combat operations.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has acknowledged that his forces have suffered losses in Russia. Last year’s deployment came after Moscow and Pyongyang inked a mutual defense pact, a sign of increasingly close ties between the two heavily sanctioned states.
North Korea has also provided Russia with missiles and artillery, as well as ammunition, in addition to its soldiers. Ukraine has vowed to treat Pyongyang’s participation in the war the same as it does Moscow on the battlefield.
The Ukrainian military has been “documenting all confirmed instances of foreign formations participating in armed aggression,” Kyiv said on Thursday. “All forces involved in aggression against Ukraine will be neutralized in accordance with the laws and rules of warfare.”
Russia’s armed forces have suffered tremendous losses fighting against Ukraine. On Tuesday, Britain’s defense ministry said some 332,000 soldiers have been killed and wounded since the start of the year. The estimated cost since the start of the full-scale invasion is over 1.1 million.
