North Korea now supplying up to 40% of Russia's munitions in Ukraine war: report
Pyongyang is accused of shipping millions of artillery shells and other munitions to Vladimir Putin's military, South Korea's Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) said on Sunday.
The 28,000 containers loaded with shells and munitions are believed to exceed roughly 12 million rounds when converted into 6-inch artillery shells, the DIA said.
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'North Korea is continuing to supply weapons to Russia. Our military is constantly reassessing the scale of North Korea's weapons support to Russia in coordination with relevant agencies and allied nations,' the DIA said in a statement shared with South Korean lawmaker Kang Daeshik.
3 South Korea claims Kim Jong-un is now supplying as much as 40% of Russia's ammunition for the Ukraine war.
RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY / HANDOUT/AFP via Getty Images
Pyongyang is now supplying Russia with as much as 40% of its ammunition needs for the war, Ukraine's head of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, told Bloomberg.
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Kim Jong-un's regime is also sending other weapons including ballistic missiles and artillery systems to aid Putin's war, Budanov said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on a visit to Pyongyang last week that North Korea had affirmed its 'clear support' for Russia's war and for the Kremlin's leadership.
3 Vladimir Putin has established close ties with the communist regime.
via REUTERS
3 North Korea has sent millions of shells to Russia.
via REUTERS
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In return, Russia is supplying the hermit communist dictatorship with money and technology, Budanov said.
'Ukrainian and South Korean sources have been warning about Russia's increasing reliance on North Korean shells for a while, and it is indicative of how Russia's allies are propping up this war effort,' Russia Analyst from the Washington-based think-tank the Institute for the Study of War, Angelica Evans, told The Post.
'Russia's alliance with North Korea is a huge asset to the war effort, as North Korea has a defense industrial capacity that Russia has benefited from and will likely continue to draw on,' she said.
'Putin is working very hard to minimize the impact of the war on regular Russians, and whatever industrial support Russia gets from its allies helps offset money that Russia can use to fund social programs and keep the Russian people placated,' Evans added.
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