North Korea opens memorial museum for troops killed in Russia-Ukraine war

Source: AP

By HYUNG-JIN KIM
Updated 10:36 PM CDT, April 26, 2026

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has opened a memorial museum for its soldiers killed while fighting for Russia against Ukraine, with top leaders of North Korea and Russia pledging a push for greater cooperation.

In April 2025, North Korea and Russia announced that their soldiers fought together to repel a Ukraine incursion into Russia’s Kursk border region. The two countries haven’t disclosed exactly how many North Koreans soldiers were deployed, but South Korea’s intelligence service estimated last year that North Korea sent about 15,000 troops and 2,000 of them were killed.

The North’s Korean Central News Agency reported Monday the museum’s inaugural ceremony was held in Pyongyang on Sunday to mark the one-year anniversary of the end of an operation to liberate the Kursk region. KCNA said leader Kim Jong Un attended the ceremony along with top visiting Russian officials including Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the State Duma, and Defense Minister Andrei Beloussov.

During the ceremony, Kim threw dirt over the remains of one dead soldier and laid flowers before others whose bodies were already placed in a mortuary, before he and Volodin and Beloussov left messages on the guest book, according to KCNA.



Read more: https://apnews.com/article/north-korea-russia-ukraine-memorial-museum-7c010fe1ded78fc45167c4fbab17ec92