Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has raised concerns about increasing military collaboration between Russia and North Korea, as well as intelligence sharing with Iran, based on Ukrainian intelligence reports. Zelensky highlighted that Russia is reportedly preparing to receive an additional 30,000 North Korean troops, with preparations in progress in the Voronezh region since June. This cooperation also involves North Korea supplying additional ballistic missile launchers to Russia.
According to President Zelensky, this alliance is providing North Korean forces with exposure to modern warfare tactics and weapons systems. Ukraine has previously noted the utilization of North Korean ballistic missiles by Russian forces, including an incident in July near Kryvyi Rih, though this assessment was preliminary at the time.
Furthermore, Zelensky claimed that Russia has been conducting satellite surveillance over Gulf countries and U.S. military installations since early July. He asserted that some of the satellite imagery gathered was subsequently shared with Iran and correlated with Iranian strikes before and after attacks in the region.
Significant satellite focus was reported on four Middle Eastern air bases located in Bahrain, Jordan, and Kuwait on July 19 and 20. Ukraine intends to share its intelligence regarding these developments with international partners.