PDB Afternoon Bulletin | August 5th, 2026: North Korea Sending a New Missile Unit to Russia & FBI Teams Up With Russia & China

**Mike Baker** (0:12)
Two, but they have a pretty big poster to them. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, North Korea may be preparing to send Russia, an entire missile unit, complete with personnel, launchers and as many as 120 bombers to the country's border. The first step is to send the US, the United States, as many as 120 ballistic missiles for attacks against Ukraine. Later in the show, counter-narcotics operations and crime fighting can make strange bedfellows. FBI Director Kash Patel is opening new channels of cooperation with China and Russia to fight fentanyl and cybercrime, despite warnings that America's adversaries could exploit the access. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. Vladimir Putin, as a familiar solution, Whenever Russia's military comes up short, who are you going to call? Well, you're going to call Kim Jong Un. When Russia needed artillery ammunition, North Korea filled the gap. When Moscow needed more soldiers, Pyongyang sent thousands of troops. And now, as Russia tries to overwhelm Ukraine's depleted air defenses, North Korea may be preparing to send an entire ballistic missile unit. According to exclusive reporting from Reuters, Ukrainian military intelligence believes a unit of roughly 90 North Korean personnel has begun deploying to Russia's Western Voronezh region. The North Koreans would reportedly operate within Russia's 112th Missile Brigade. When fully assembled, the unit could be equipped with six launchers and as many as 120 North Korean ballistic missiles. Reuters could not independently verify the intelligence, and this is no surprise, neither Moscow nor Pyongyang responded to requests for comment. There are also important questions about what exactly the North Koreans will be doing in the next few months. Ukrainian intelligence does not yet know whether they'll be operating the missile launchers themselves, maintaining the weapons, training Russian personnel, or performing some combination of those tasks. But Pyongyang has reportedly already sent an initial batch of 40 KN-23 and KN-24 missiles along with personnel. Ukrainian officials believe the final size and configuration of the deployment could be settled during high-level talks next month.
Russia first began firing North Korean ballistic missiles at Ukraine in late 2023 Ukrainian intelligence estimates that Pyongyang supplied Moscow with approximately 150 of them through August of last year. And then their use appeared to stop for nearly a year until last week. Ukrainian authorities believe Russia fired two North Korean missiles during its large-scale attack on July 30th. One reportedly struck a home in the village of Radushne, killing several members of the same family. Now, that strike illustrates one of the dangers posed by these missiles. North Korea's KN-23 and KN-24 missiles reportedly have greater range and carry larger payloads than Russia's comparable Iskander missiles. But Ukrainian military officials say they are also considerably less accurate and have repeatedly been associated with high civilian casualties. And the potential arrival of another 120 missiles comes in an especially difficult time for Ukraine. Ballistic missiles are among the hardest weapons to intercept, of course. Ukraine's primary defense against them has been the American-made Patriot system. And Kyiv, as we've noted here on the PDB, is now saying they are critically short of the Patriot interceptors.
Russia has been increasing its use of ballistic missiles in order to exploit that vulnerability. And as winter approaches, Ukrainian officials fear Moscow could again launch sustained attacks against the country's electrical grid, hoping to disrupt heat and power during the coldest months of the year.
An additional supply of North Korean missiles would, of course, give Russia more weapons for that campaign without forcing Moscow to draw as heavily from its own dwindling stockpiles.
This deployment of a North Korean missile unit is just another example of how the military relationship between Russia and North Korea has expanded. Now, it began primarily as an arms pipeline. Russia's military was burning through artillery ammunition faster than its factories could replace it. North Korea possesses enormous stockpiles of Soviet-compatible shells, making it an obvious supplier. Pyongyang ultimately provided Russia with millions of rounds. The relationship then expanded from ammunition to manpower. Ukrainian officials say North Korea sent roughly 14,000 troops to help Russia push Ukrainian forces out of the Kursk region. Approximately 9,500 reportedly remained there, although Ukraine says they're not currently participating in direct combat. And more could be coming. President Zelensky warned last month that Russia wants North Korea to provide another 30,000 troops. He said preparations have been underway since June to receive them in Voronezh, the same region where the North Korean missile unit is reportedly being established.
Now, the partnership may be moving into yet another phase. If this deployment proceeds as Ukraine expects, Pyongyang will be sending a specialized military formation, its launch equipment, and potentially the personnel needed to put those missiles into operation. That represents a deeper level of North Korean participation in this war, and another sign that Moscow is increasingly dependent on foreign support to sustain it.