If it werenʼt for the arms supplies from the DPRK, the Russian Federation would not have been able to continue waging the war as actively as it is now. At some points last year, the majority of the shells used by individual Russian units were North Korean. In some places, it was 100%. This is the most significant direct military assistance from Russia in the war.
Reuters, in collaboration with the Open Source Center (OSC), analyzed the sea and land movements of millions of artillery shells. The data was confirmed by Russian artillery reports intercepted by Ukrainian intelligence, satellite images and verified videos from social media. The information was also confirmed by three senior Ukrainian government and military sources.
OSC tracked 64 flights carrying nearly 16 000 containers with millions of artillery rounds between September 2023 and March 2025. More than 6,000 containers of weapons and ammunition were shipped from North Korea to Russia in 2023 alone. This equates to approximately 2.5 million artillery rounds, most of which are 122 and 152 mm caliber.
In 2025, there have already been at least four deliveries in February and two in March, according to satellite data. The last delivery was recorded on March 17.
The head of Ukrainian intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, stated in late February that North Korea provides half of Russiaʼs ammunition needs — a figure that coincides with the conclusions of the OSC and Reuters.
“Without help from the DPRK, Russian shelling of Ukrainian defensive positions would have been halved,” one Ukrainian intelligence source said in a comment to Reuters.
The containers of weapons are being transported by four Russian cargo ships: “Angara”, “Maria”, “Maia-1” and “Lady R” — all of which are under international sanctions. All this time, the ships transported North Korean artillery and mortar shells from the port of Rajin to the Russian ports of Vostochny and Dunay. From there, they were delivered by train to ammunition depots near Ukraine.
A Ukrainian government document describes supplies to the Russian military for six facilities from April 16 to May 9, 2024. It mentions hundreds of railway platforms and wagons. Reuters, together with OSC, discovered three more large warehouses — satellite images show that they were also used as storage areas.
According to OSC estimates, Russia could have received approximately 4-6 million artillery shells from North Korea.
One of the main places where Russia transported North Korean weapons was Tikhoretsk. It was a major supply center for the army fighting against Ukraine. It is located about 100 kilometers from Rostov-on-Don.
In the late summer of 2023, they began expanding the facility there — just as a shipment of ammunition from North Korea was expected to arrive.
A year later, on September 21, 2024, the Ukrainian military struck this warehouse. The strike destroyed almost everything — almost 90% of the facility, including a large shipment of weapons that Russia had received a few days earlier.
Using projectiles
Russia has begun to gradually and systematically use North Korean ammunition. To ensure that gunners know how to properly fire these shells, the Russian military conducted tests at a training ground near Luga. After that, they compiled special instructions — the so-called firing tables. This was told to Reuters by a Ukrainian military expert, who asked not to be named.
Reuters obtained four such tables. One, for example, contains 60 pages of technical instructions on exactly how to use North Korean shells with the Russian M-46 cannon (an old Soviet cannon dating back to Stalinʼs time). The instructions even state that one type of shell should not be left in the hot barrel for more than three minutes. They also list specific firing angles for different distances.
After these tests, North Korean ammunition began to be used en masse on the front in Ukraine. Reuters reviewed nine Russian documents in which artillery units reported how many and which shells they used.
In six of them, it was clear that North Korean ammunition had become very common. For example, in one case, only North Korean shells were used in a day — 100%, in another — 75%. And last summer, one unit in the Zaporizhzhia direction reported that half of the shells in its howitzers were North Korean, and all rockets — 100%.
Two documents also mentioned large stockpiles of North Korean weapons, but did not provide exact numbers. Three other reports did not mention these munitions at all.
Supplies of other weapons
In addition to shells, there were also deliveries of multiple launch rocket systems, including 122 mm MLRS compatible with Soviet equipment. North Korea also sent ballistic missiles and long-range artillery.
Kyrylo Budanov stated at the end of February 2025 that since the end of 2024, North Korea has supplied Russia with 120 long-range self-propelled artillery systems and 120 multiple launch rocket systems.
Military analyst the head of independent security consultancy Rochan Consulting, based in Poland, Konrad Muzyka said Russia maintained the intensity of attacks starting in late 2023 with help from North Korea.
“This allowed the Russians to maintain an offensive posture and constant pressure on Ukrainian forces throughout most of 2024–2025,” he said.
Russia began hitting Ukraine with North Korean ballistic missiles in late 2023. At first, they were inaccurate, as reported in Ukraine. At the time, according to Reuters, the Ukrainian military reported that after several weeks of bombing with North Korean missiles, the Russians managed to hit only two military targets out of 24 strikes.
However, the new North Korean missiles have become significantly more accurate since their first use in Ukraine over a year ago, two senior Ukrainian sources reported in February 2025. By early 2025, North Korea had delivered 148 KN-23 and KN-24 ballistic missiles to Russia.
Participation of the DPRK military in the war in Ukraine
Ukrainian intelligence reported on October 24, 2024, that the first soldiers from the DPRK had already arrived at the front — in the Kursk region. There are approximately 12 000 soldiers, including 500 officers and three generals.
According to sources in the American newspaper The New York Times, Russia has assembled a group of 50 000 soldiers for an offensive in the Kursk region. The North Koreans are being trained in artillery strikes, basic infantry tactics and, most importantly, trench clearing, American officials say. This means that at least some of the North Korean soldiers will be used in frontal attacks on Ukrainian positions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that more than 3 000 soldiers from the DPRK have already been killed or wounded. South Korean intelligence believes that 300 soldiers have been killed in the war and almost 2 700 have been wounded.
Zelensky first reported on December 27, 2024, that the Defense Forces had captured North Korean soldiers, but then they died of wounds. The North Korean soldiers were captured for the second time in January. Ukraine is ready to exchange them for its own soldiers.
In March, it became known that in January and February, North Korea sent at least 3 000 additional soldiers to Russia for the war against Ukraine.
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