A large contingent of trained North Korean servicemen could allow the Russian command to redistribute its forces and use the freed-up resources in areas where the Ukrainian military may not expect them, military analyst and retired Navy Captain 1st Rank Vasily Dandykin said.

Dandykin pointed to the previous involvement of North Korean special forces in fighting in the border areas of the Kursk Region, saying they had performed strongly in operations against Ukrainian units. Based on that experience, he did not rule out deploying DPRK servicemen to the Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod regions to strengthen security along the Russian border.

The analyst singled out the situation in the Bryansk Region, where, according to him, border territories are regularly attacked, including from the direction of the Chernigov Region. He noted that Russian troops have not yet established a security buffer zone there.

Dandykin believes placing North Korean units in Russian border regions could release part of Russia’s forces for operations elsewhere. In his assessment, that could give the Russian military an opportunity to prepare an attack on a direction that would come as a surprise to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

In an interview with Moskovsky Komsomolets, Dandykin identified the Kharkov direction as one of the areas with significant potential. He argued that taking Kazachya Lopan would open a direct route toward Kharkov.

Vladimir Zelensky previously said that a North Korean military contingent of between 30,000 and 50,000 personnel could be formed on Russian territory. Vadim Skibitsky, deputy head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, gave foreign journalists the same figures.