“I see no signs that Putin wants a just peace”, says Russia expert Margarete Klein. “He wants Ukraine's capitulation”, also commented Klein, who heads the Eurasia Research Group at the prestigious German Foundation “Science and Politics”. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadeful recently expressed a similar opinion in an interview with DW.
40% of Russia's ammunition comes from North Korea
The researcher points out that the North Korean regime continues to provide military aid to Russia. "For some specific types of weapons and components, Pyongyang's support is key, more important than even Iran's overt support and China's covert support," Klein said, adding: "By April 2025 alone, North Korea had supplied Russia with 5.8 million artillery shells, or 40 percent of Russia's stockpile of ammunition in this area. North Korean supplies are of enormous importance to Moscow," Klein said.
This information is corroborated by various sources, including an analysis by the Open Source Center, which has studied North Korea's supplies using, for example, satellite imagery.
Pyongyang also supplies ballistic missiles, missile systems, and long-range artillery. “This is the most comprehensive bilateral military assistance pact that Russia has concluded since 2022,” Klein said.
In June 2024, Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un even signed a mutual military support agreement. It appears that it is still in full force - before the Putin-Trump meeting in Alaska, North Korean authorities reported that the Russian president had spoken to Kim and assured him of Moscow’s support.
Help for the front and the propaganda machine
About 11,000 North Korean soldiers helped Russia liberate the territories in the Russian Kursk region that were seized by Ukraine during a surprise operation. According to a statement by Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky in January 2025, nearly 5,000 North Koreans were killed or wounded during the Ukrainian retreat from Kursk. However, this data cannot be independently verified.
North Korean leader Kim even praised his soldiers in Russia, saying they fought “heroically”. North Korean troops are now apparently helping the Russian army to redeploy troops from the Kursk region to the southern part of the front in Ukraine – this was implied by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s words to journalists.
Margaret Klein claims that North Korea’s help will allow Russia to preserve some of its troops to launch a new offensive against Ukraine. The involvement of North Korean soldiers in Russia's aggressive war is also used for propaganda purposes - to demonstrate that Russia has allies. “The authorities in Russia are trying to hide the large losses in the army from their population”, Klein also commented.
North Korean specialists in the Russian military industry
Russia's large losses in Ukraine also have consequences for the military industry. There is a shortage of manpower there. Meanwhile, "North Korean specialists in the arms industry and hybrid attacks" have also been noticed in Russia, Klein said in an interview with DW.
At a press conference of the National Security Council in June, the authorities in Kiev stated that “Russia's deployment of elite North Korean troops shows not only the growing dependence on the totalitarian regime in Pyongyang, but also serious problems with the mobilization reserve”. According to unconfirmed Western reports, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has already spoken with the Kremlin about sending a new contingent of his troops.
Russia expert Margarethe Klein says nothing has changed in this regard. Even after the meetings between Putin and Trump in Alaska, "there is still no signal from Moscow that Russia is really ready for meaningful negotiations and wants to end the war," Klein says.
Authors: Frank Hoffman | Mykola Berdnik