Vadim Skibitsky, the deputy head of the General Intelligence Department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, stated in an interview with the BBC that North Korea is going to send a significant number of soldiers to Russia. Before that, it was already reported that Moscow received ballistic missiles from North Korea (DPRK) to strike Ukraine.
According to Ukrainian military intelligence, as of August 2026, there are about 8,500 North Korean soldiers on the territory of Russia. Four brigades were formed from them, which operate as part of the "North" Russian group of troops.
These soldiers do not actively participate in the ongoing battles in Ukraine, their task is to protect the state border of the Russian Federation, states the GHV.
The average age of DRC servicemen is up to 30 years old, Ukrainian intelligence reports. According to him, the North Korean troops are being rotated in the Russian territory, and the total number of servicemen involved in this operation is 23-25 thousand people.
Earlier, it was reported about the participation of the DPR military in the battles in the territory of the Kursk region, where the armed forces of Ukraine began to operate in August 2024.
