US media have reported that as sanctions hinder Moscow’s ability to supply its military, Russia has been forced to buy military hardware from North Korea.
Declassified reports accessed by New York Times have indicated that, Russia has bought millions of artillery shells and rockets from Pyongyang.
A US official has said that Moscow will be forced to buy more ammunition from North Korea as the war progresses. Last week, Moscow reportedly received its first order of new Iranian drones.
US intelligence officers believe that Russian operators have travelled to Iran to receive training on the Mohajer-6 and Shahed series weapons.
On Tuesday, UK defence officials said in a daily update that Russia was struggling to maintain its supply of battlefield drones in the face of significant “combat losses”.
“It is likely that Russia is struggling to maintain stocks of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), exacerbated by component shortages resulting from international sanctions,” the update reported.
Iran and North Korea, both recipients of massive Western sanctions, have sought to deepen ties with Russia since President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine in February.
Dictator Kim Jong-un’s regime has blamed the US for the conflict and accused the West of pursuing a “hegemonic policy” that made Russia’s use force.
According to the BBC, North Korea, last month, recognized the independence of Russia’s two proxy statelets in eastern Ukraine – the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics – and vowed to deepen its “comradely friendship” with Moscow. Russia’s Vladimir Putin said the two countries would expand their “comprehensive and constructive bilateral relations”, according to Pyongyang state media.
The exact figure or quantity of the new weapons deliveries revealed by the report is not clear.
But a US official told the Associated Press that turning to North Korea for help showed that “the Russian military continues to suffer from severe supply shortages in Ukraine, due in part to export controls and sanctions”.
