Putin's desperate move as Russian economy heading for 'meltdown' and 'money running dry'

Putin attends BRICS business forum in Moscow (Image: Getty)

Russia is set to deploy North Korean troops in Ukraine, according to South Korean intelligence, which has already identified North Korean officers in the Donetsk region.

However, at the same time, economic analysts have warned the Russian economy is about to go into "meltdown" and the deployment of foreign troops, as well as the use of foreign artillery, is an indicator of the Kremlin's diminishing financial power.

Rutgers University-Newark political science professor Alexander J. Motyl wrote in The Hill that the "meltdown" would arrive as soon as 2025.

He explained: "As the Russian economy tanks, immiseration, and social discontent grow, and money dries up, Putin will run out of resources to fuel his war machine."

President Putin meets Kim Jong Un during a visit to Pyongyang (Image: Getty)

The reliance on Kremlin allies to provide military assistance, in both the form of manpower and hardware, points to drying up of Russian economic resources.

According to joint intelligence efforts by the South Koreans and Ukrainians, North Korean officers are already operating in Donetsk, as North Korean missiles are fired on the battlefield.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service also claims that Pyongyang has shipped eight million artillery and rocket rounds to Russia.

Around 1500 North Korean soldiers are to join the Russian front in Ukraine (Image: Getty)

At the same time, around 1500 North Korean special forces are training in eastern Russia, in prepartion for deployment, according to the South Korean spy agency. President Zelensky, however, claimed in Brussels that the actual figure was 10,000.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol earlier called an unscheduled meeting with top intelligence, military, and national security officials to discuss North Korean troops' involvement in Putin's bloody war in Ukraine.

"The participants... shared the view that the current situation where Russia and North Korea's closer ties have gone beyond the movement of military supplies to actual dispatch of troops is a grave security threat not only to our country but to the international community," Yoon's office said.