Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un are celebrating what they describe as an alliance sealed in blood, even as mounting evidence shows North Korean soldiers are dying on Ukrainian soil in support of Russia’s war. The Kremlin is publicly thanking Pyongyang for its battlefield role, while Kim is using the losses to frame a historic partnership that he says now extends to “life and death.” Behind the rhetoric, casualty estimates and new military deals suggest a relationship that is deepening quickly and at significant human cost for North Korea.
From covert support to open “blood” alliance
For much of the Russo‑Ukrainian War, North Korea’s role was discussed mainly in terms of munitions and covert assistance, but that has shifted into an overt military partnership. North Korea confirmed earlier this year that it had deployed troops to support Russia’s campaign in Ukraine, a move that followed a sweeping defense treaty requiring both sides to aid each other if attacked, described as their most significant pact since the Cold War. That formal agreement, combined with the public acknowledgment of troop deployments to Russia, marked a turning point from transactional cooperation to a declared security alignment anchored in shared confrontation with the West, as detailed in reporting on North Korea confirms it sent troops and broader North Korean involvement in the conflict.
Kim has now wrapped that shift in emotive language, telling Putin in a New Year message that ties between North Korea and Russia have become an “alliance of sharing blood, life and death.” In that message, Kim specifically highlighted the military and political bond between the two countries, saying that “Along with the past days of 2” they had endured hardships together and would “set right history,” according to accounts of Kim and his framing of the relationship. Other summaries of his greetings describe how Kim Extends New Year Greetings to Putin and stresses that North Korea and Russia now share a “sincerest alliance of sharing blood, life and death,” language that elevates the partnership beyond pragmatic wartime cooperation into a quasi‑ideological bond, as reflected in coverage of Kim Extends New Year Greetings and his comments on North Russia relations.
Casualty figures reveal the human cost for Pyongyang
Behind Kim’s celebratory rhetoric lies a stark casualty ledger that underscores how deeply North Korea is now entangled in Russia’s war. According to South Korean intelligence cited in assessments of North Korean involvement, North Korea had “300 k” killed and almost “2,700” wounded soldiers by Janua 2025, for a total of roughly 4,000 casualties. Separate briefings to South Korean lawmakers later suggested that About “600” North Korean soldiers had been killed fighting in Ukraine so far in the war, highlighting how casualty estimates have climbed as deployments expanded, according to reports on About 600 North Korean soldiers.
Ukrainian officials have cited even higher figures, part of a broader information battle over the scale of foreign fighters aiding Russia. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has publicly claimed that Ukrainian forces have killed large numbers of North Korean troops, with his office stressing that Figures vary depending on who provides them and that Kyiv’s estimates are higher than some intelligence assessments, as reflected in analysis of have North Korean fighters died. Other reporting cites claims that North Korea has reportedly lost “6,000” personnel in the conflict, a figure that, if accurate, would represent a significant portion of the deployed force and deepen the domestic impact of the war on North Korea, as noted in coverage of North Korea has reportedly lost 6,000. None of these numbers can be independently verified based on available sources, but together they point to a rising toll that Kim is choosing to frame as proof of loyalty to Moscow rather than a strategic liability.
Putin’s praise and battlefield roles for North Korean units
For the Kremlin, North Korea’s willingness to send troops has become both a military asset and a propaganda tool. Putin has publicly thanked Kim for the performance of North Korean soldiers in Ukraine, telling him during talks that “Your soldiers fought courageously and heroically” and emphasizing that they had died in combat in just three months, according to accounts of Your soldiers fought courageously. In a separate exchange, Putin said “I want to note that your soldiers fought bravely and heroically,” while Kim described it as North Korea’s “fraternal duty” to support Russia, signaling that both leaders see the deployment as a test case for how far their military cooperation can go, as detailed in reporting on Putin and North Korea.
Reports from the front suggest that North Korean units are being used in some of the most dangerous tasks in the conflict. Russian commanders have praised North Korean troops who were sent to Russia to clear deadly minefields, after receiving training on NATO and Ukrainian explosive devices, according to accounts that describe how Kim Jong Un sends troops to Russia to clear deadly minefields in Putin’s war, as outlined in coverage of Kim Jong-un sends troops. Ukrainian forces, for their part, have claimed to have killed groups of North Korean soldiers and have even floated proposals for prisoner swaps involving captured North Korean fighters, though the Kremlin, through spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, has refused to comment on such ideas, as noted in reports on Ukraine claims more North Korean soldiers killed and the response from the Kremlin.
Strategic payoffs: weapons, technology and sanctions evasion
Kim’s decision to risk North Korean lives in Ukraine is not purely symbolic, it is also tied to a broader strategy of extracting military and economic benefits from Moscow. Analysts in Seoul have pointed to the rapid timeline and scale of progress that Pyongyang claims in its naval modernization, including a new nuclear‑capable submarine, and say suspicions of Russian assistance are growing, particularly in areas such as propulsion, missile integration and command systems, as described in assessments that begin “With the” and examine whether Russian technology is behind North Korea’s new nuclear submarine. If Moscow is indeed sharing advanced know‑how, it would represent a significant payoff for Pyongyang, which has long sought to upgrade its navy and strategic deterrent while under heavy sanctions.
At the same time, the war has created new channels for North Korea to earn hard currency and test weapons in real combat conditions. Earlier accounts of North Korean involvement in the Russo‑Ukrainian War describe how North Korea has been involved since the early phases of the conflict, initially through ammunition supplies and later through more direct participation, as summarized in the overview of North Korean involvement in the Russo‑Ukrainian War. For Kim, the combination of battlefield experience, potential technology transfers and deepening political backing from Putin may outweigh the domestic risks of casualties, especially if state media can present the losses as heroic sacrifices in a shared struggle against Ukraine and its Western backers.
Domestic narratives and long‑term risks for both leaders
Kim is already weaving the deaths of North Korean soldiers into a broader story of national pride and historical destiny. In his New Year messages, he has highlighted “shared bloodshed” with Russia and portrayed the war as a crucible that is forging an unbreakable bond between Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin, including imagery of the two leaders embracing after a bilateral meeting in China, as captured in accounts that note how Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin are presented together. North Korean state media has also emphasized that units returning from Russia are being honored at homecomings, reinforcing the idea that fighting and dying abroad is part of a patriotic duty to support Russia and resist Ukraine and its allies, as echoed in coverage of how Kim Jong Un highlights shared bloodshed.
For Putin, the alliance offers manpower, munitions and diplomatic theater at a time when Russia remains locked in a grinding war with Ukraine and faces sustained Western sanctions. Yet the closer he moves to Kim, the more he ties Russia’s global image to that of a heavily sanctioned, nuclear‑armed state that has long been treated as a pariah. The presence of North Korean troops on Ukrainian battlefields, documented by Ukrainian claims, South Korean intelligence and Russian praise alike, may deepen Moscow’s isolation even as it shores up its immediate war effort. Over time, both leaders will have to manage the domestic and international fallout of an alliance that is now literally written in the blood of North Korean soldiers fighting, and dying, for Russia.