The Kremlin May Be Preparing a New North Korean Deployment of up to 50 Thousand Personnel - GUR

As of August 2026, there are about 8,5 thousand North Korean troops in Russia, and the Kremlin may be preparing to deploy a new North Korean contingent numbering up to 50 thousand fighters. According to intelligence, rotations have already allowed 23-25 thousand North Korean soldiers to pass through Russian territory. Currently there is no confirmation that the new contingent is intended to be sent directly into battles against Ukraine.

This was disclosed by Vadym Skibitsky, deputy head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense, in an interview with the BBC. According to Ukrainian military intelligence, the current North Korean contingent consists of four brigades and is part of Russia's North Caucasus grouping. The average age of these troops is up to 30, and their main task now is not combat actions but border protection of Russia.

"Today, according to our information, on the territory of the Russian Federation there could be deployed from 30 to 50 000 North Korean soldiers. We are closely monitoring the situation. This is primarily the presence of foreigners on Russian soil and Russia's support in the war," said Vadym Skibitskyy, deputy head of GUR of the Ministry of Defense.

According to the intelligence officer, the main task of these troops is the defense of Russia's territory, which requires logistical support, engineering, and preparation of military facilities. The intelligence community currently has no documents or Kremlin plans regarding the direct deployment of the North Korean contingent on Ukrainian territory.

"We do not have any documents or Kremlin plans to deploy this unit on our territory. Because what would that mean? It would be real participation of a third country in a war on our territory," said Deputy Head of GUR Vadym Skibitsky.

Skibitsky also noted that GUR estimates irreversible losses of the current North Korean contingent at about 3 thousand people, of which up to 1,5 thousand are medical casualties. According to him, participation in the war on Russia's side gives Pyongyang real combat experience of modern warfare, including drone usage, and also allows North Korea to improve its ballistic missile manufacturing technologies.

Release Russian units to the front

The presence of North Korean forces on the border allows the Kremlin to release its own units currently engaged in guarding the state border of Russia, potentially redeploying them to the Ukrainian front. This is where the intelligence sees Moscow's main practical interest in such a large-scale involvement of the North Korean military, rather than in their direct combat use against Ukraine.

North Korean troops already have experience fighting the Ukrainian army — at the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025, in the Kursk region, where Pyongyang sent about 11 thousand soldiers after Moscow's request for help. With their involvement, by the start of spring 2025, the Russian army had expelled Ukrainian units from Kursk, losing in those battles, according to approximate estimates, about 2,3 thousand North Korean troops.

Earlier, Informator reported that Russia received an additional batch of ballistic armament from Pyongyang and is preparing to station another contingent of Korean troops on its territory, while President Volodymyr Zelensky noted that such cooperation, unprecedented in history, deprived Moscow of its secure strategic rear.

We also wrote that the Kremlin is adopting from Pyongyang authoritarian practices not only in the military sphere but also in internet control, according to Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation.