Kyiv: North Korea has supplied around 6.5 million artillery shells of various calibers to Russia to support its war with Ukraine, along with 600 missile launchers and weapons systems, a Ukrainian intelligence agency has said.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine (FISU) disclosed the information in response to an inquiry by the Ukrainian news outlet Liga.net. The agency described North Korea as the "main foreign supplier of ammunition for almost all artillery systems" for Russia.
North Korea has so far supplied Russia with around 600 different artillery pieces, mortars, and missile systems of varying ranges and destructive power, as reported by the spy agency. The weapons included the KN-23 and KN-24 short-range ballistic missiles, as well as the KN-25 multiple rocket launchers and multiple transporter erector launchers (TEL).
An FISU official noted that although some models of North Korean artillery are less effective and maintainable, the cooperation between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Russia in the military-technical sphere is mutually beneficial. The DPRK gains the opportunity to test and improve its weapons in modern combat conditions, while Russia compensates for combat losses.
South Korea's military intelligence authorities had earlier estimated that North Korea had provided Russia with more than 12 million rounds of shells as of mid-July.