North Korea Has Begun Moving a Missile Unit to Western Russia, Where It Could Be Equipped With 120 Ballistic Missiles and Six Launch

Russia plans to station the unit, with about 90 North Korean soldiers, in the Voronezh region. A person familiar with the matter told that the U.S. is aware of the deployment. The move would expand military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang, which has already fired dozens of North Korean missiles at Ukraine since late 2023. Rob Lee, an expert at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said intercepting ballistic missiles is one of Ukraine's biggest weaknesses, as it lacks modern air defense systems and Patriot missiles.

North Korea has become a close ally of Russia since the 2022 invasion, signing a mutual defense pact in 2024 and delivering millions of artillery shells and 14,000 troops to Russia's Kursk region. Last week, a North Korean missile killed at least five members of one family in the village of Radushne, according to Ukrainian reports. The deployment could be an escalation signal to Kyiv's allies, especially Washington.