Kyiv, Russia – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Russia is preparing to receive an additional 30,000 North Korean troops. In a televised address Saturday evening, Zelensky added that preparations underway in Russia’s Voronezh region began last June, reflecting a dangerous escalation in the military alliance between Moscow and Pyongyang.
Transfer of new ballistic missile launch platforms to Russia
The Ukrainian president revealed that North Korea is also preparing to transfer new ballistic missile launchers to Russia, emphasizing that this growing military cooperation poses a strategic threat that extends beyond Ukraine’s borders. He noted that Russia is training North Korean soldiers in modern warfare techniques, contributing to the modernization of their weapons arsenal, and in return gaining real combat experience on the ground. Zelensky warned that this development poses a direct threat to all Asian countries within range of North Korean missiles.
North Korea and Russia cooperation
These significant statements came after North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui’s four-day official visit to Moscow, where she held a high-level meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week. It is worth noting that North Korea previously deployed approximately 20,000 combat troops and military engineers to Russia’s Kursk region in 2014. Intelligence estimates indicate that around 14,000 of them are currently on the front lines, while at least 2,000 have been killed in action.
complex military supply network
In a related development, the Iranian model of military support to Russia differs. Tehran initially delivered prototype aircraft and later established a fully integrated production line in the Yelabuga Special Economic Zone of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan. As a result, production at this military complex increased from approximately 10 aircraft per day to a record 404 aircraft per day in 2023. Similarly, China emerges as a third, pivotal player in this regional military network, despite Beijing’s repeated assurances that it has not supplied lethal weapons to either side of the conflict.
However, field reports indicate that 34 Chinese companies signed direct contracts with Russia during the period between September 2023 and June 2024. In this context, an advisor to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense confirmed that nearly 95 percent of the components of the “Witness” (Witness) drones used in military operations today are entirely made in China, highlighting the extent of the logistical and industrial entanglement in the support directed to the Russian war machine.
