GUR: North Korea delivered one and a half million artillery ammunition to Russia

North Korea sent one and a half million artillery ammunition to Russia. However, these are not very high-quality, old shells from the 1970s and 1980s.

This was reported by the Deputy Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Major General Vadym Skibitsky, in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

"Today, if we take the available statistical data, the Russians have already imported one and a half million ammunitions from the DPRK. But these ammunition are from the 70s and 80s. Half of them do not work there, and the rest need to be restored or checked before use. What is the benefit for North Korea? It gives away the old one, asks to increase its production and certain technologies in return, in particular missile technology, technologies for the production of submarines, in order to develop its defense and industrial complex," said Skibitsky.

The GUR also confirmed that the Russians launched North Korean missiles over Ukraine. It is noted that this ballistic missile carries a large charge — more than half a ton.

"It is very difficult to find out what exactly is being launched: KN-23 or Iskander, and the characteristics are ballistic. The only thing we know for sure is that the rockets are different in size. And secondly, the Korean missile is newer in development, because, most likely, it was based on the Russian development of "Iskander", — noted Skibitsky.

The GUR believes that the Russians have promised to provide certain additional technologies in order for the DPRK to improve its weapons.

"This once again confirms that Russia does not have enough capacity to rapidly increase the production of missile weapons. Otherwise, they would not have turned to North Korea," Skibitskyi added.

• In January 2023, the United States released evidence that North Korea had been supplying Russia with weapons since at least November 2022. The head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, stated at the beginning of 2024 that the DPRK is now the largest supplier of weapons to Russia.
• On January 4, 2024, Western media wrote that Russia had received a batch of ballistic missiles from North Korea (several dozen) and launchers for them. On the same day, the US officially announced that Russia had short-range ballistic missiles from North Korea and had launched them into Ukraine — the first on December 30, 2023 (fell in Zaporizhzhia) and several others on January 2 during a massive missile attack. On January 10, South Koreaʼs ambassador to the UN said that North Korea is using Ukraine as a testing ground for its ballistic missiles with the help of Russia.
• On February 16, the Prosecutor General stated that Russian forces had already launched at least 24 North Korean-made NK-23 ballistic missiles over Ukraine. These are data for the period from December 30, 2023 to February 7, 2024. Rockets attacked Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Kharkiv, towns and villages in Kirovohrad, Poltava, Donetsk, and Dnipropetrovsk regions. In total, they killed 14 civilians, injured more than 70 people.
• Investigators of the British Conflict Armament Research organization found hundreds of components produced in the USA and the EU in the remains of the North Korean ballistic missile that the Russian Federation used to attack Ukraine. Most of these parts were produced within the last three years, the report said.