North Korea to Send 120 Missiles and 90 Troops to Russia's Voronezh Region

The 120 missiles would be stationed with about 90 North Korean soldiers in Russia's western Voronezh region. This would expand the military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang, which signed a mutual defense pact in 2024. North Korea has already s Kursk region bordering Ukraine. Last week, at least five people were killed by a North Korean missile in the village of Radushne, Ukrainian authorities said.

Ukraine's air defense struggles with a shortage of modern systems, and Russia is exploiting this with ballistic missiles that are hard to intercept. Military expert Rob Lee of the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia said the North Korean weapons pose a significant threat to Kyiv, especially with winter approaching and potential strikes on the power grid. The KN-23 and KN-24 missiles have longer range than Russia's Iskander but are less accurate and linked to high civilian casualties. Russia has used them since late 2023.