North Korea supplied 6.5 million shells, 600 weapons systems to Russia: Ukraine
Published: 29 Jul. 2025, 17:31
![A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency on Jan. 29 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspecting a nuclear material production base and the Nuclear Weapons Institute at an undisclosed location in North Korea. [EPA/YONHAP]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/07/29/c4d9206f-e12a-4e00-9f93-f89e623b8744.jpg)
A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency on Jan. 29 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspecting a nuclear material production base and the Nuclear Weapons Institute at an undisclosed location in North Korea. [EPA/YONHAP]
North Korea has supplied around 6.5 million artillery shells of various calibers to Russia to support its war with Ukraine, along with 600 missile launchers and weapons systems, a Ukrainian intelligence agency has said.
The Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine (FISU) disclosed the information Monday in response to an inquiry by the Ukrainian news outlet Liga.net, describing North Korea as the "main foreign supplier of ammunition for almost all artillery systems" for Russia.
North Korea has so far supplied Russia with around 600 different artillery pieces, mortars and missile systems of varying ranges and destructive power, according to the spy agency.
The weapons included the KN-23 and KN-24 short-range ballistic missiles, as well as the KN-25 multiple rocket launchers and multiple transporter erector launchers (TEL).
"Despite the fact that some models of North Korean artillery are less effective and maintainable, cooperation between the DPRK and Russia in the military-technical sphere is mutually beneficial," an FISU official said, referring to the North by its formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"The DPRK gets the opportunity to test and improve its own weapons in modern combat conditions, and Russia gets to compensate for combat losses," he added.
South Korea's military intelligence authorities earlier estimated that the North had provided Russia with more than 12 million rounds of shells as of mid-July.
Yonhap
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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