Budanov: North Korea learning from Ukraine war and arming itself, including mass-producing strike drones
Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine's Office of the President, said in an interview with Newsforce that North Korea is drawing on its participation in the war in Ukraine to improve its own armaments, including by mass-producing single-use strike drones. He also said North Korea continues to supply weapons and materials to Russia and to send its troops to fight directly against Ukraine.
Key points
- Budanov made the comments in an interview with Newsforce.
- North Korea supplies weapons and materials to Russia and has sent troops to fight against Ukraine, according to Budanov.
- Budanov said North Korea is upgrading its weapons based on combat experience in Ukraine, including adopting some Russian-made systems.
- Budanov said North Korea has established mass production of single-use strike drones.
- Budanov warned that rapid North Korean militarisation is destabilising the Korean peninsula and could trigger uncontrolled consequences.
- North Korea tested an upgraded 240mm guided rocket from an improved MLRS on 22 September 2026.
Why it matters
Budanov's framing recasts North Korea's role in Ukraine not just as a supplier of ammunition and troops for Russia, but as a live testing ground for Pyongyang's own weapons development. By tying battlefield lessons in Ukraine to North Korea's missile and drone programmes, he argues that the war in Europe is feeding military build-up on the Korean peninsula and in the Pacific. The warning is also a public-pressure message: that the international community should recognise the North Korea–Russia–Ukraine axis before a triggering event on the peninsula produces wider consequences.
What happened
In an interview with Newsforce, Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said North Korea is using the war in Ukraine to advance its own military capabilities. According to Budanov, North Korea is upgrading its weapons based on combat experience gained in Ukraine, adopting new types of weapons — some of Russian manufacture — and has set up mass production of single-use strike drones. He said North Korea continues to supply weapons and materials to Russia and to send its own troops to fight directly against Ukraine. Budanov also pointed to a recent incident on the demarcation line between the two Koreas and warned that the situation there is escalating daily, raising the risk of a trigger event with uncontrolled consequences. Separately, North Korea conducted a test on 22 September 2026 of an upgraded 240mm guided rocket fired from an improved multiple rocket launcher system with a new guidance system and extended range.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
All three Ukrainian-language sources are Ukrainian outlets — Ukrinform, Interfax-Ukraine and Suspilne Novyny — and centre on a senior Ukrainian official's statement. The coverage frames North Korea's involvement in Ukraine as established context, restating earlier claims by President Zelenskyy and Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) about North Korean troop deployments to Russia's Kursk Oblast. The framing links those deployments to a broader lesson: that North Korea is converting battlefield experience in Ukraine into its own weapons programmes, including drones, and that this should concern not only Ukraine but also Ukraine's partners in Asia and the Pacific.
Background
North Korean involvement in the war in Ukraine has been reported by Ukrainian and South Korean outlets over more than a year. In autumn 2024, Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) said the first units of North Korean military personnel, trained at Russian training grounds in the east, had arrived in the combat zone in Kursk Oblast, with around 12,000 personnel, including 500 officers, reportedly deployed there. In November 2025, the South Korean outlet Yonhap reported that North Korea had transferred approximately 5,000 servicemembers to Russia over several months 'for infrastructure restoration.' President Zelenskyy has said Russia plans to involve between 30,000 and 50,000 North Koreans to gain combat experience against Ukraine — a claim North Korea rejected as 'baseless' and 'a self-staged incident.' Ukrainian military have reported that North Korean soldiers in combat largely refused to surrender, in some cases removing the bodies of fallen comrades or taking their own lives rather than being captured; Ukraine captured two North Koreans, both of whom said they wanted to go to South Korea.