Without North Korea, Putin could not have bombarded Ukraine for the past 3 years

According to Reuters, Russian artillery units rely almost entirely on ammunition supplied by North Korea to support their shelling along the Ukrainian front.

Between September 2023 and March 2025, four Russian-flagged ships made 64 trips carrying nearly 16,000 containers from North Korea to Russian ports, according to satellite data analysed by the UK-based Open Source Center (OSC). The organisation estimates that the shipments included between 4 and 6 million artillery shells.

By comparison, Russia is estimated to have produced no more than 2.3 million artillery shells domestically in 2024, according to Ukrainian and Western officials.

Defence analyst Konrad Muzyka, from the Polish firm Rochan Consulting, stated that North Korean supplies have allowed Russia to maintain the pace of its military operations since the end of 2023.

"Without the help of the DPRK, the Russian army's bombardments on Ukrainian defensive positions would have been halved", the Ukrainian military intelligence agency told Reuters.

(MH with FM - Source: Reuters - Photo: © Unsplash)