The Russian Defense Ministry is in the process of buying millions of rockets and artillery munitions from North Korea for its ongoing fight in Ukraine, according to a recent declassified discovery from US intelligence.
A US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the intelligence in question, said on Monday that Russia’s focus on the isolated state of North Korea demonstrates that “the Russian military continues to suffer from severe supply shortages in Ukraine, in part due to export controls and sanctions”.
US intelligence officials believe the Russians may seek to purchase additional North Korean military hardware in the future. The discovery of the intelligence was first reported by the New York Times.
This comes after the Biden administration recently confirmed that the Russian military had Iranian-made drones delivered in August for use on the battlefield in Ukraine.
The White House said last week that Russia had encountered technical problems with Iranian-made drones acquired in Tehran in August for use in its war with Ukraine.
Russia recovered Mohajer-6 and Shahed series drones for several days last month in what the Biden administration says is likely part of a Russian plan to acquire hundreds of Iranian drones for use them in Ukraine.
North Korea has sought to tighten relations with Russia as much of Europe and the West have pulled back, blaming the United States for the Ukraine crisis and decrying the ” hegemonic policy” of the West as justifying military action by Russia in Ukraine to protect itself.
The North Koreans have expressed interest in sending construction workers to help rebuild Russian-occupied territories in the east of the country.
North Korea’s ambassador to Moscow recently met with representatives of two Russian-backed breakaway territories in Ukraine’s Donbass region and expressed optimism for cooperation in the “field of labor migration”. ‘work’, citing the relaxation of border controls in his country in connection with the pandemic.
In July, North Korea became the only nation besides Russia and Syria to recognize the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk territories, aligning itself further with Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.