North Korean Missile Unit Deployed to Russia Amid Escalating War Preparations

A North Korean missile unit has reportedly begun deploying to western Russia, potentially equipped with 120 ballistic missiles and six launchers to strike Ukraine. Ukrainian military intelligence official Andrii Cherniak stated that Russia plans to station approximately 90 North Korean missile personnel in the Voronezh region, embedded within Russia’s 112th Missile Brigade. This deployment represents a major expansion of the extensive military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang, a relationship that has deepened significantly since Russia’s 2022 invasion and the subsequent signing of a mutual defence pact in 2024. Pyongyang has reportedly dispatched a new wave of 40 KN-23 and KN-24 missiles along with their personnel to Russia, though the final deployment configuration and total missile count will be determined at high-level talks next month. The exact role North Korean personnel will play in Russian missile operations remains unclear. The deployment coincides with Russia’s first use of North Korean missiles against Ukraine since August of last year. Ukraine is currently grappling with severe shortages of high-end air defence systems, a vulnerability Russia seeks to exploit by employing more ballistic missiles, which are extremely difficult to intercept. Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, assessed that North Korean resources pose a significant threat to Kyiv. Ukraine’s greatest concern is the state of its air defences heading into winter, when Russia is expected to again target the country’s power grid with heavy bombardments. Last week, Ukrainian authorities reported that a North Korean missile levelled a house in the village of Radushne, killing at least five members of a single family. Cherniak confirmed that the strike was the first recorded use of North Korean ballistic missiles since August 2025, noting the missile came from a newly delivered batch of 40. Ukrainian military sources say the KN-23 and KN-24 missiles have greater range and payload than their Russian equivalents but are far less accurate and have frequently been linked to attacks causing civilian casualties. Their use aligns with Russia’s pattern of deploying more Iskander-class 9M723 ballistic missiles, which can only be intercepted by US-made Patriot air defence systems. Russia first began firing KN-23 and KN-24 missiles into Ukraine towards the end of 2023, with Cherniak confirming that North Korea supplied around 150 missiles between late 2023 and August 2025.