North Korea supplies up to half of Russia’s ammunition needs – Ukrainian intel

This information was provided to Ukrinform by Oleh Alexandrov, an officer of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine (FISU).

“Currently, North Korea supplies Russia with 35–50% of its ammunition needs, providing 200–260 thousand 152 mm and 122 mm shells each month,” Alexandrov said.

He also recalled that Pyongyang had supplied Russia with launchers and short-range ballistic missiles KN-23 and KN-24, which Russian forces used to shell Ukrainian cities.

According to Alexandrov, Russia and North Korea are using the war in Ukraine to test and improve North Korean weapons on the battlefield. This includes a modernized version of the Soviet Konkurs anti-tank missile system (North Korean version: Phoenix-2), the long-range self-propelled ATGM Bulsae-4, and the 600mm KN-25 heavy MLRS.

The FISU estimates that 8,500–13,000 North Korean troops are deployed in Russia’s Kursk region, allowing Russia to redeploy an equivalent number of its own forces to the front against Ukraine.

Intelligence also recorded the arrival of 1,000 additional North Korean troops in Kursk in September, including 1,000 sappers and 5,000 military engineers, according to Pyongyang’s statements.

The Kremlin is also deploying North Korean labor migrants to compensate for workforce losses due to mobilization. Currently, over 17,800 North Korean workers are employed in Russia, with plans to recruit 26,000 more, including 6,000 assigned to construction work in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

As previously reported by Ukrinform, in September 2025, fighters from the 412th Separate Nemesis UAV Regiment located and destroyed four North Korean Koksan self-propelled artillery systems deployed by Russian troops in Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Photo: KCNA (illustrative)