How does North Korea Actually Help Russia in Its War Against Ukraine?

In 2025, Russia's war against Ukraine reached a new level of international escalation. 

North Korea, which previously only indirectly supported Moscow, has openly joined the conflict. Today, cooperation between Russia and the DPRK includes not only arms supplies, but also the dispatch of military specialists, combat operations and strategic coordination. How large is the DPRK's contribution to strengthening Russia's military potential?

On April 26, 2025, the Russian authorities for the first time recognized the participation of the DPRK military in the war against Ukraine. This confirmation appeared in the report of the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, which stated that North Korean troops were taking part in hostilities on the territory of Ukraine. Pyongyang also recognized the fact that it had sent “volunteers” and “military consultants” to Russia to help in the conduct of hostilities against Ukraine.

North Korean soldiers were honored for “heroic deeds” in the Kursk region, which was the first public recognition of the DPRK's combat participation in a foreign conflict. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un announced plans to erect a monument in Pyongyang in honor of these soldiers.

The United States expressed deep concern about North Korea's involvement in the war against Ukraine. The U.S. State Department stated that such participation “undermines international efforts to achieve peace and stability in the region.”

North Korea's official recognition of its military's participation in the war against Ukraine is a serious challenge for the international community. 

It indicates deepening military cooperation between the DPRK and Russia and creates new threats to security in the region. This step has significantly changed the nature of the war. For the first time since the Korean War of the 1950s, North Korean military personnel are again involved in an external conflict. Moreover, the DPRK has violated the UN's international sanctions regime, which prohibits arms exports and military cooperation.

North Korea's entry into the war was not due to ideological solidarity, but to pragmatic calculations: Moscow provides Pyongyang with economic aid, energy resources, and support in international organizations. At the same time, for Russia, the DPRK's participation is an opportunity to continue hostilities despite the lack of its own resources.

Relations between Russia and North Korea have long roots dating back to the Cold War. Back in the 1950s, the Soviet Union actively supported the DPRK as a buffer zone against American influence in Asia.

Today's rapprochement is taking place in a new bipolarity: the unification of autocratic regimes against the West. Moscow receives military assistance, and Pyongyang receives economic benefits and international cover.

At the same time, the DPRK's active participation in the war indicates a deepening global conflict between democracies and autocracies. This opens up new risks: Russia's possible transfer of missile technology to North Korea, which will strengthen the Kim Jong-un regime's nuclear capabilities.

The Institute for the Study of War in its analytical report “North Korea Joins Russia's War Against Ukraine” explains in detail how North Korea is helping Russia.

The key type of assistance is a large-scale supply of 122 mm and 152 mm artillery shells. These are compatible calibers for Soviet artillery systems, which Russia has in large quantities, but the stockpile of shells is being depleted due to intense fighting.

In January-March 2025 alone, the DPRK supplied more than 100,000 artillery shells.

This ammunition is used in the most active areas of the frontline - in Donbas and Zaporizhzhia region.

Although the quality of North Korean shells is often poor-they have a higher percentage of non-detonations-the quantity compensates for the quality. Russian troops can maintain the pace of shelling necessary to wage a war of attrition.

In addition to shells, Pyongyang has given Moscow multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) and short-range ballistic missiles. Particularly noteworthy are the KN-23 missiles, analogs of the Russian Iskander, adapted to the DPRK's own technical standards.

The use of these missiles has been documented in Donbas and in Ukrainian cities near the frontline. These missiles allow Russia to expand the range of strikes and put pressure on the Ukrainian air defense system, forcing it to disperse resources.

A residential building in the Sviatoshynskyi district of Kyiv was hit by a North Korean ballistic missile of the KN-23 (KN-23A) type during a Russian massive attack on the night of Thursday, April 24, 2025. This was reported by the Reuters news agency with reference to a Ukrainian military source.

Another aspect is the deployment of personnel. According to Yonhap News, Pyongyang has sent several battalions of “volunteers” to Russia, officially declared as construction workers, but in fact military engineers, sappers, and maintenance personnel.

Their main tasks are: building fortifications; repairing roads and bridges in frontline areas; guarding rear bases and warehouses; and instructing Russian mobilized soldiers.

The presence of the North Korean military allows unloading some of the Russian forces to participate in assault operations.

On October 24, 2024, Ukrainian intelligence reported that the first soldiers from the DPRK arrived at the front. At that time, there were about 12,000 of them, including 500 officers and three generals. At the end of December 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that more than 3,000 soldiers from the DPRK had already been killed or wounded.

For the first time, Zelenskyy announced that the Defense Forces had captured DPRK soldiers on December 27, but they died of injuries. The second time the North Korean military was captured was in January 2025.

One of the peculiarities of cooperation between Russia and the DPRK is the desire to minimize the detection of supplies by the international community. 

According to the investigation by United24 Media, North Korean missile systems are transported to Russia disguised as civilian trucks without insignia. In addition, part of the deliveries are carried out through sea transportation in small batches, using ports in the Far East. Thus, Russia and the DPRK demonstrate their willingness to violate the UN Security Council sanctions regime.

Thus, the DPRK's assistance is very important for Russia and consists of a number of components:

• Supply of tens of thousands of artillery shells that support the intensity of Russian shelling.
• The transfer of multiple launch rocket systems and ballistic missiles, expanding Russia's ability to strike over long distances.
• Sending instructors, sappers, and engineering units to provide logistics, construction, and reinforcement of the rear.
• Direct deployment of troops to participate in the war against Ukraine.
• Creating the preconditions for a long-term war by providing Russia with access to a constant source of military resources.
• Geopolitical coordination that strengthens the alliance of autocratic regimes against the democratic coalition of the West.

Petro Oleshchuk, political scientist, Ph.D, expert at the United Ukraine Think Tank