How North Korea is supporting Putin’s war in Ukraine

Russia’s war in Ukraine might have taken a different turn without the involvement of North Korea.

The weaponry and troops provided by Mr Kim Jong Un’s regime have supported the years-long bombardment of Ukrainian towns and cities, and also helped repel a surprise Ukrainian incursion into Russian territory in 2024.

More than four years after launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s advances have stalled, as have diplomatic efforts to resolve the war while the US is preoccupied with its own conflict with Iran.

But Russian President Vladimir Putin is planning a renewed offensive, according to people familiar with Kremlin discussions. A number of senior Russian officials have visited North Korea in 2026, raising expectations of more military assistance.

Mr Putin had long treated North Korea with ambivalence, maintaining relations while viewing his neighbour as a potentially destabilising influence in Russia’s vast backyard.

The alliance struck up in recent years is proving to be an effective riposte to the sanctions imposed on both nations by Western powers.

What does Kim have that Putin wants?

Between August 2023 and December 2025, North Korea may have supplied weapons and troops worth as much as US$14.4 billion (S$18.4 billion) to support Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to South Korea’s state-funded Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS).

The INSS estimates that most of that has likely been, or will be, paid for by Russia in the form of sensitive military technology and related precision components.

North Korea has some of the largest stores of artillery shells and rockets that are compatible with the armaments Russia has been burning through in Ukraine. It is also one of the few countries with ample stocks of Soviet-era tanks similar to those that Russia has deployed, meaning it can supply spare parts.

And North Korea has been busy churning out short-range ballistic missiles akin to some of the rockets Russia has fired on Ukraine.

Estimates vary for how many North Korean troops have been deployed to assist Russia. South Korean officials have said it could be as high as 15,000.

The soldiers helped Russia regain control of its Kursk border region after Ukrainian forces captured and held hundreds of square kilometres for several months.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described the involvement of North Korean troops as a symbol of “invincible brotherhood” between the two nations. 

In June 2025, top security aide to Mr Putin and former Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said North Korea would send 5,000 military construction workers and 1,000 combat engineers to support the rebuilding of Kursk.

Why is North Korea helping Russia?

North Korea gets a powerful military ally out of this arrangement. When Mr Putin visited Mr Kim in Pyongyang in 2024 – his first trip there in 24 years – the two signed a military pact that included a pledge to come to each other’s defence if either was ever attacked.

Two North Korean naval destroyers – one of which was refloated after a failed launch attempt in 2025 – were built with assistance from Russia, experts say.

Russia has also helped the East Asian nation upgrade its electronic warfare systems, including jamming equipment, according to a report from a multi-country panel that monitors North Korea’s violations of United Nations sanctions.

The latest annual threat assessment report from US intelligence authorities said North Korea has gained “valuable war-fighting experience and military technology from Russia” by participating in combat operations against Ukraine.

North Korea has had the opportunity to test its military strategies and equipment against a combatant that uses similar weapons to its foe, South Korea.

Since the Korean War wound down in 1953, North Korea has rarely sent its troops abroad. On the occasions when it has, it generally dispatched small forces – for example, when it sent around 800 military personnel and labourers to aid Syria’s government in 2019, according to Seoul-based specialist news service NK News, citing a UN document.

As one of the world’s most impoverished countries, North Korea desperately needs food, energy and raw materials, all of which Russia can supply. Materials and cash from Russia help to keep Mr Kim in power by stabilising prices of consumer goods and supporting the construction of new factories and housing.

They also help fuel the expansion of North Korea’s military and arsenal of nuclear weapons, increasing the threat posed by the isolated nation to the US and its allies in East Asia.

What are the risks for North Korea?

Mr Kim’s budding friendship with Mr Putin may irritate North Korea’s biggest traditional benefactor, China. Chinese President Xi Jinping has projected a neutral stance over the war in Ukraine, and the Kim-Putin partnership potentially undermines this position.

No North Korean leader has ever faced a situation in which the country’s troops suffered mass casualties in a war abroad. More than 6,000 soldiers are believed to have been injured or killed while fighting in Russia’s Kursk region, according to UK intelligence estimates from 2025.

One of North Korea’s guiding policies is prioritising the military; the armed forces permeate almost all aspects of society. Mr Kim has celebrated the sacrifice of troops deployed to fight in Russia’s war, hugging those who served at a ceremony to welcome them back and memorialising the fallen as martyrs.

The state opened a museum to honour their contribution to what Mr Kim called Russia’s “sacred” war in Ukraine. He also confirmed a policy that requires North Korean soldiers to commit suicide – what he referred to as “self-blasting” – on the battlefield to avoid capture.

The deployment of troops risked stirring discontent among citizens, many of whom have personal ties to the armed forces. In a sign of caution, North Korea only acknowledged sending soldiers to support Russia’s war effort months after initial reports of their dispatch. BLOOMBERG