Russia has deployed thousands of North Korean soldiers and weaponry to “terrorize” Ukraine, according to a new report by members of the United Nations which reveals a “myriad of unlawful activities,” and exposes Moscow’s reliance on the isolated regime.
The Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT), comprising 11 U.N. member states including the U.S., the United Kingdom, and Japan, said that Kim Jong-un’s regime supplied over 11,000 troops, at least 100 ballistic missiles, and “as many as 9 million rounds of mixed artillery and multiple rocket launcher ammunition” in 2024.
This “unlawful cooperation” contributed “to Moscow’s ability to increase its missile attacks against Ukrainian cities, including targeted strikes on critical civilian infrastructure,” the report, published Thursday, said. It also estimated that North Korea had deployed an additional 3,000 troops to Russia between January and March 2025.
Moscow, the report said, is reciprocating by supporting Pyongyang’s ballistic missile programs, leading to “improvements in missile guidance performance.” Russia is believed to have supplied North Korea with “air defense equipment, anti-aircraft missiles, as well as advanced electronic warfare equipment,” it added.
The evidence shows that North Korea and Russia had engaged in numerous violations of United Nations Security Council Resolutions, including arms transfers, Russian training of North Korean forces, and supplying North Korea with refined petroleum beyond UNSC limits, the MSMT said.
“At least for the foreseeable future, North Korea and Russia intend to continue and further deepen their military cooperation in contravention of relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions,” it said.
North Korea confirmed for the first time in April that its troops were fighting alongside Russian forces in the war against Ukraine, saying they had helped Moscow take back control of the Kursk region.
Kim Jong-un ordered the troops’ deployment under a mutual defense pact that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed in June 2024, North Korea’s Central Military Commission said in a statement that was carried by state-run news agency KCNA. The treaty includes a pledge of mutual defense if either country is attacked.
The statement said the operation to regain control of Kursk had been “victoriously concluded” and that it was “an honor to have an alliance with such a powerful state as the Russian Federation.”
“They who fought for justice are all heroes and representatives of the honor of the motherland,” Kim was quoted as saying. Putin said in April that North Korea had “acted on a sense of solidarity, justice and genuine comradeship.”
Both North Korea and Russia have denied any transfer of arms.
The MSMT report arrives as Russian missile and drone strikes continue across Ukraine, amid uncertainty over whether Kyiv diplomats will participate in a new round of peace talks proposed by Moscow for early next week in Istanbul.
Moscow says it is ready for peace talks while the fighting goes on, and wants to discuss what it calls the war’s “root causes,” including its demands Ukraine cede more territory, and be disarmed and barred from military alliances with the West.
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both sides are believed to have been wounded or killed in Europe’s deadliest war since World War II, although neither side publishes accurate casualty figures. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians have also died as Russian forces have besieged and bombarded Ukrainian cities.
Russian attacks killed at least two people, including a 9-year-old girl, Ukrainian officials said Saturday. The country’s air force reported that Russian forces launched around 109 drones and five missiles overnight and into Saturday.
It came after Andrii Yermak, a senior adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, announced on Friday that Kyiv is prepared to resume direct peace negotiations with Russia in Istanbul on Monday, but said the Kremlin must first deliver a promised memorandum outlining its stance on ending the more than three-year conflict.
Russia, which launched the war by invading its neighbor in 2022 and now occupies about a fifth of Ukraine, says it will not pause its assaults until conditions are met first. The Kremlin has demanded that Ukraine never join NATO, accept permanent “neutrality” between Moscow and the West, and cede its demand for four territories in the east of the country that Russia illegally annexed months after the war began.
Kyiv says that is tantamount to surrender and would leave it defenseless in the face of future Russian attacks.
The Associated Press contributed.
