Major General Vadym Skibitskyi, Deputy Head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence, said this to CNN, according to Ukrinform.

Skibitskyi said the North Korean troops already deployed are concentrated mainly in Russia’s Kursk region and include 1,000 engineers and deminers. They also comprise 400 UAV operators. The North Koreans are expected to use strike drones to attack targets in Ukraine.

Skibitskyi added that in September, the Kremlin could request for up to 50,000 more North Korean troops. By that time, around 25,000 North Korean personnel will have been deployed to or rotated through the Russian armed forces, he said.

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North Korea is also providing Russia with missiles. According to Skibitskyi, by August last year, North Korea had supplied Russia with at least 150 KN-23 or KN-24 ballistic missiles for strikes against Ukraine, while another 120 had been promised.

In exchange for supplying Russia with personnel and ammunition, North Korea has requested Russian S-400 air defense systems and has already received a Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air missile system, Skibitskyi said.

As previously reported by Ukrinform, Russia could use North Korean troops to replace its own units in border regions, freeing Russian personnel for deployment to the most active areas of the front.