North Korea Deploys Missile Unit to Russia for Strikes on Ukraine

North Korea has begun deploying a missile unit to Russia’s Voronezh region to support ballistic missile strikes against Ukraine.

Andrii Cherniak, a spokesperson for the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, disclosed the deployment, according to Reuters.

The North Korean unit, comprising about 90 troops, is expected to receive six missile launchers and up to 120 ballistic missiles. It will operate as part of Russia’s 112th Missile Brigade.

Cherniak also said that Pyongyang has already delivered a new shipment of 40 KN-23 and KN-24 ballistic missiles to Russia, along with military personnel. The unit’s final structure and the total number of missiles are expected to be finalized during high-level talks in September.

While Russia has been using North Korean ballistic missiles since late 2023, the deployment of a dedicated North Korean missile unit to operate them marks a new level of military cooperation between the two countries.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reported on July 30 that Russia had, for the first time in a long while, used a North Korean-made KN-23 ballistic missile to strike the settlement of Radushne in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region.

The attack killed six people, including three children, and injured nine others.

A second crater, caused by another North Korean KN-23 ballistic missile, was later discovered in a field approximately 3.5 kilometers from the site where the first missile struck.

Before the July 30 attack, Russian forces had last used these missiles in August of last year. According to Cherniak, North Korea supplied Russia with 150 ballistic missiles between late 2023 and August 2025.

KN-23 Ballistic Missile

The KN-23, also known as the Hwasong-11Ga, is a North Korean solid-fuel short-range ballistic missile. According to open-source assessments, the standard version can carry a warhead weighing about 500 kilograms to a range of up to 450 kilometers. With a lighter payload, its maximum range increases to approximately 690 kilometers.

Russia first used North Korean-supplied ballistic missiles against Ukraine on December 30, 2023, when one missile landed in an open field in the Zaporizhzhia region. The first strike on a populated area followed on January 2, 2024, when a KN-23 missile hit the city of Kharkiv.

Military engineers and researchers from Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense conducted laboratory examinations of the wreckage from North Korean missiles to assess how closely they resemble Russian counterparts.

They concluded that the KN-23 is not a direct copy of Soviet- or Russian-designed ballistic missiles and was not produced under license from the 9M723 Iskander missile. Instead, they found that the KN-23 is a modified version of one of the early missile designs associated with the development of the Iskander system.