# Report says North Korea sent 40 missiles, personnel to Russia 2026-08-05T23:11:47+00:00 | World & Diplomacy | Indian Opinion Desk A Ukrainian military intelligence official said Russia plans to base a new North Korean missile unit of about 90 personnel in its Voronezh region to strike Ukraine, and that North Korea has already sent that unit a new batch of 40 KN-23 and KN-24 ballistic missiles. NDTV, citing Reuters, reported that Andrii Cherniak said the configuration of the deployment and the total number of missiles would be finalised at top-level talks the following month, with Russia expecting the unit to eventually field 120 North Korean ballistic missiles and six launchers. Reuters said it could not independently verify Cherniak's assertions, which he said were based on intelligence he could not disclose. The report noted that Russia had fired its first two North Korean missiles at Ukraine since the previous August, and that North Korea had supplied 150 such missiles between the end of 2023 and August 2025. ## Indian Opinion Analysis The claim comes from a single named Ukrainian intelligence official and was explicitly not independently verified by Reuters itself, so it should be read as an unconfirmed intelligence assessment rather than an established fact about troop and missile numbers. The report's own internal figures, 40 missiles sent now against an eventual expected total of 120, show that even Cherniak's account is of a deployment still being finalised, not a completed one. The top-level talks the report places in the following month, and any further North Korean missile strikes on Ukraine, are what would test Cherniak's account. ## Coverage - www.ndtv.com Tags: North Korea, Russia Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/north-korean-missile-unit-deployed-in-russia-to-strike-ukraine-report/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/north-korean-missile-unit-deployed-in-russia-to-strike-ukraine-report/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes.