As of now, about 11,000 North Korean troops are training in eastern Russia to take part in a war against Ukraine. The head of the Defence Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov, told The War Zone.
According to him, the Koreans will be ready to go to war on 1 November. They will use Russian weapons and ammunition.
The first unit of 2,600 soldiers will go to the Kursk region, where the Ukrainian Defence Forces hold a certain territory. It is unclear where the DPRK soldiers will be deployed next.
Budanov said that there is no complete picture.
DPRK's participation in the war against Ukraine
In September, Kyrylo Budanov said that Pyongyang posed the most problems for Ukraine among Moscow's allies. North Korea supplies the Russians with incomparable aid.
On 14 October, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that North Korea had actually joined the war against Ukraine.
On 16 October, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia had received not only weapons from the DPRK, but also people for the army and work at its factories.
According to LB.ua, as of September, about 10,000 soldiers from the DPRK were stationed at four Russian training grounds. There was no confirmed information that they had already been deployed to fight.
On 17 October, Zelenskyy said that North Korean officers were already in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine.