Zelenskyy: Russia to deploy 30,000-50,000 North Korean troops, up from July estimate of 30,000
Zelenskyy says Russia will deploy 30,000 to 50,000 North Korean troops on its territory, up from his July estimate of 30,000, per NBC News. North Korean missiles have already been found in Ukraine. Each rotation gives Pyongyang combat experience and Russian tech to bring home.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia has decided to deploy between 30,000 and 50,000 North Korean troops on its territory, a sharp increase from his July estimate of 30,000, according to NBC News. Zelenskyy said the numbers have escalated steadily: first hundreds of North Korean soldiers, then thousands, and now tens of thousands. He also said North Korean missiles have already been found on Ukrainian territory, and that Pyongyang is gaining experience in modern warfare while receiving weapons licenses and military equipment from Moscow in exchange for its troops. The deployment is not just a wartime detail. Every North Korean unit that rotates through this conflict returns home with live combat experience against a modern, NATO-supplied army, and with Russian military technology transferred in payment. That combination changes the security calculus for South Korea and Japan, who will be facing a more combat-tested and better-equipped North Korean military long after the fighting in Ukraine has stopped.