Russia needs military aid from abroad. After Iran, it is now known that North Korea also sends ammunition and weapons to the belligerent country. For Ukraine’s British and American allies, a sign of the weakness of Vladimir Putin’s nation (70).
“Putin asking North Korea for help is a sign of Russia’s desperation and isolation,” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, 53, said. As the “Spiegel” writes, the first North Korean delivery was probably mainly rocket artillery ammunition.
North Korea supports Russia with munitions
The Korean military uses the same ammunition for its artillery systems as Russia and has them in abundance, Go Myung Hyun of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, which specializes in North Korea, told NK News. And: Deliveries can even be made by train, as Russia and North Korea share a border of 16 kilometers.
But the sea route is also not excluded, making North Korea a practical partner for Russia. In recent weeks, satellites have signaled train traffic between North Korea and Russia, the first since the start of the pandemic. It is not clear what exactly was in the wagons.
Although it comes at the right time from a Russian point of view – because the army is running out of shells – the support from Pyongyang is likely to have a positive effect on the situation of the Russian army only in the short term. “What is really needed to win this war is industrial weapons production capacity,” Ed Arnold told the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). And neither warring faction has that.
Is Iran expanding its aid to Russia?
North Korea is not the first largely isolated country to militarily rush to Russia’s side. Russia has acquired hundreds of combat drones from Iran and used them repeatedly against Ukraine, most notably the Iranian-made Mohajer-6, Shahed-129 and Shahed-191.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, 44, reported that Russia had recently received a new batch of Iranian Shahed drones, with another 250 on the way. Several media reports have claimed that Russia has acquired not only drones but also ballistic missiles from Iran and that Iran plans to further expand its military support to Russia. (chs)