Pyongyang has provided Moscow’s military with long-range rockets and artillery systems, some of which have been moved to Russia’s Kursk region for an offensive against North Korean military forces in Ukraine. were involved in getting out, a Ukrainian intelligence review has found.
In recent weeks, North Korea delivered about 50 indigenously produced 170mm M1989 self-propelled howitzers and 20 updated 240mm multiple launch rocket systems that can fire standard rockets and guided missiles, the assessment said. was shared with the Financial Times.
North Korea’s new arms deliveries mark the latest expansion of the authoritarian state’s support for Russia’s ongoing offensive against Ukraine.
Michael Kaufman, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said they are following a pattern of deepening North Korea’s involvement, “by sending massive amounts of munitions, weapons and becoming a direct party to the war, which the Russians The forces may help recapture the Kursk region”.
He said that North Korea has already played an important role in providing millions of rounds of artillery ammunition to the Russian army in 2023.
It has deepened its involvement by sending more than 12,000 troops this year, further internationalizing the conflict, according to multiple Western intelligence assessments.
“North Korea has now become an ally of Russia and is helping Putin in this illegal war,” President Vladimir Zelensky said in a speech after meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Ioya in Kiev on Saturday. .
“I reported. [Iwaya] About the activities of the North Korean army in the Kursk region, about all the threats posed by cooperation with Pyongyang and Moscow,” Zelensky added. “Russia is training North Korea for modern warfare, and it is very could lead to wider instability.”
The shipment comes at a critical moment, as Ukrainian and Russian forces vie for regional advantage ahead of the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has vowed to quickly end the nearly three-year war.
Ukrainian officials provided information about the weapons this week after a photo showing a North Korean howitzer began circulating on social media this week.
Image, Joe Open source analyzers were able to perform geographic searches. In the Krasnoyarsk region of central Russia, several howitzers were shown covered in camouflage netting and being transported west by rail.
Heavyweight weapon systems can fire projectiles up to 60 km. The M1989 Howitzers, produced in 1989, are slightly upgraded versions of the original M1979 models first produced in the late 1970s, supplied by Pyongyang to Tehran during the Iran-Iraq War.
The upgraded rocket system is based on the Soviet-designed BM-27 “Uragan”, or Hurricane system, a self-propelled 220mm multiple rocket launcher designed to deliver cluster munitions. North Korea said in May that it had successfully tested an advanced system with precision-guided munitions.
A senior Ukrainian official told the FT that Pyongyang now wants to test war weapons. Kiev expects them to be used against its forces, which currently occupy about 600 square kilometers of territory in Russia’s Kursk region.
According to Ukrainian and Western intelligence officials, Russia has amassed a force of 50,000 troops, including 10,000 North Korean troops outfitted in Russian uniforms and weapons, ready to attack at any moment.
Ukrainian forces in Kursk have lost nearly half of the 1,100 square kilometers they held in a surprise incursion in August, according to military analysts. Kiev is trying to keep the 600 square kilometers still under its control to leverage in any future negotiations with Russia.
But with Russia’s army marching along much of the 1,000km front line, North Korean troops consolidating their ranks and Ukrainian troops exhausted, they face a daunting task.
In recent months, Russia has used its advantages in manpower and firepower to seize more than 1,200 square kilometers in Ukraine, according to Deep State, a Kiev-based war monitoring group affiliated with the Defense Ministry. closely related.
The group said that an area of about 500 square kilometers was seized in October alone. Much of what Ukraine has lost is in the eastern Donetsk region, where its defenses are being strengthened around the strategic cities of Pokrosk and Korakhov.
Britain’s defense chief, Admiral Sir Tony Radacon, said Russia’s gains had come at a high cost. He estimated that Moscow’s forces suffered about 1,500 casualties “every single day” in October, the worst month for casualties since its February 2022 invasion. Radakin put Moscow’s total death toll at around 700,000.
Ukrainian officials told the FT on November 4 that their forces had fired on North Korean troops for the first time in Kursk. But North Korea, the first foreign military force to enter the war, has yet to take part in major ground attacks.
Ukrainian officials believe North Korean troops, including some of their country’s top special forces, will play two roles in the Russian operation: some will fight among its infantry, while others will be recaptured. will be used to capture and control the territory. Operation
“North Korean troops could provide a tactical advantage to Russian forces in Kursk, although much depends on their numbers and how they are used,” Koffman said.
By using them in Kursk, he said, Moscow could “free up its forces to continue offensive operations elsewhere in eastern Ukraine”.
Earlier, North Korea supplied Russia with ballistic missiles and artillery shells. In return, Moscow has provided Pyongyang with military technology as well as “money” to help with its missile programs, a senior Ukrainian official said.
South Korea, the European Union and the United States, which have condemned the deployment of North Korean forces, have expressed concern that Moscow could endow Pyongyang with nuclear and ballistic technology.
US President Joe Biden raised the issue of North Korea’s support for Russia with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Saturday, when the two leaders met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in Lima.
US national security adviser Jack Sullivan said Biden asserted that this was a “deeply dangerous development” for Europe but also for the security of the Korean Peninsula.
Deeper cooperation between Russia and North Korea would likely “increase the likelihood of provocative behavior” by Pyongyang, including more missile tests or a seventh nuclear test by the regime, he said. may be
Additional reporting by Dimitri Sevastopoulou in Washington
