In this swimming pool photo distributed by Russia’s state agency Sputnik, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (right) and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands after a welcome ceremony at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, on June 19.

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Kyiv, Ukraine – The Ukrainian government says its military intelligence has evidence that North Korea is not just sending weapons to help Russia in its war against Ukraine. Pyongyang may also send soldiers.

“This is no longer just about transferring weapons,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address this weekend. “It’s about people actually being transferred from North Korea to the occupying forces.”

Andriy Kovalenko, leader of the Center for Countering Disinformation on the Ukrainian Defense and Security Council, told NPR that he had been briefed on the issue and said Russia is training North Korean military personnel on Russian soil.

“The enemy’s plans are to use (the North Korean presence) to strengthen conscripts and border guards in Russia’s border areas,” he said. “But it is still too early to say whether they will be deployed directly on the territory of Ukraine.”

White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett told Reuters that reports of North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia are worrying and “indicate a new level of desperation for Russia as it continues to suffer significant losses in the battlefield in his brutal war against Ukraine.” The South Korean Ministry of Defense says it is closely watching for signs of this troop deployment.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, meanwhile, calls the Ukrainian claim an “information hoax.”

North Korea and Russia have signed a strategic agreement that serves as a military alliance. South Korean Defense Minister Shin Wonsik told Bloomberg this summer that Pyongyang has sent Russia millions of artillery shells.

There are also indications that North Korea is making missiles to order for Russia and that those missiles are being used to attack Ukraine.

Researchers from Conflict Armament Research, a British research organization that tracks the supply of weapons and ammunition in armed conflicts, have discovered the remains of four North Korean-made Hwasong-11 ballistic missiles in Ukraine.

“This illustrates two things,” says Damien Spleeters, who leads the CAR research in Ukraine. “The first is that there was not just a one-off transfer of missiles at the end of 2023. We see that at least one more transfer has taken place in 2024. So it’s an ongoing kind of relationship. The second is that there is a very tight period between production, transfer and use.”

He said the rocket part found was made around March this year and deployed a few months later in August.

Ukraine says North Korean military engineers have been sent to Russia or even occupied territories to check how well these missiles launch. Spleeters does not rule that out.

“It would make sense for people involved in the production of these missiles to be close to where they are used and assess how effective they are in order to make improvements to those missiles,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kovalenko of Ukraine’s Defense and Security Council said the presence of North Korean troops in Russia is “already a complete change of balance” in a war where NATO says it has not put boots on the ground in Ukraine.

“Also,” he added, “autocrats make weapons cheaper and faster.”

Zelensky told the Ukrainian parliament on Wednesday that North Korea is also sending factory workers to Russia to replace those drafted to fight in Ukraine.

Speaking to lawmakers about his plan to end the war on Ukraine’s terms, the president said he hopes Ukraine’s allies will change their strategy to help the country prevail. One of the conditions in his plan is that Ukraine be invited to join NATO before the war is over, something many Western allies, including the United States, are reluctant to do to avoid angering Russia.

NPR producer Polina Lytvynova contributed to this report from Kiev