Russia is reportedly using as many as 20,000 North Korean workers in military production facilities, according to Ukraine’s General Staff Chief, Andrii Hnatov, The Kyiv Independent reports. In an interview with the National News Agency of Ukraine, published October 1, he said the figure requires verification.

According to the report, Hnatov claimed that North Korean labour is being directed to the manufacture of Geran drones in Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan.

North Korea has long been among Russia’s more controversial allies in the war against Ukraine, supplying artillery, missiles and troops. In late 2024, Pyongyang reportedly deployed 11,000 to 12,000 troops to aid Russia, with some accounts suggesting as many as 2,000 were killed in the months that followed.

The Kyiv Independent adds that according to South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, North Korea had also considered sending an additional force of 6,000 soldiers to support its deployment in Russia.

Confirmation of any story from inside North Korea is notoriously difficult to achieve, however, state media has in the past month shown images of leader Kim Jong-un supposedly receiving the families of those killed in support of Russian military actions against Ukraine.

Hnatov for his part meanwhile, has further stated that a contingent of North Korean troops is present in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, ostensibly as engineering units engaged in demining operations. However, he noted that Ukrainian forces had not actually observed them participating in active combat.