• North Korea supplying Russia with artillery shells for use in Ukraine war, US officials say.
• Moscow’s conventional artillery arsenals have shrunk throughout eight months of combat.
• US says North Korea trying to conceal shipments by making it appear as though they are going to Mideast or N Africa.

North Korea is surreptitiously supplying Russia with a large number of artillery shells for use in the Ukraine war and trying to conceal the shipments by making it appear as though they are being shipped to Middle Eastern or North African countries. According to newly declassified intelligence.

US officials believe that the secret North Korean shipments, combined with Russia’s Iranian drones and other hardware, show that even Moscow’s conventional artillery arsenals have shrunk throughout eight months of combat.

Media and other publications claimed two months earlier that the US intelligence agency believed Russia was buying millions of missiles and artillery shells from North Korea for use on the battlefield.

“In September, the DPRK publicly denied that it intended to provide ammunition to Russia,” the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said in a statement to media. “However, our information indicates that the DPRK is covertly supplying Russia’s war in Ukraine with a significant number of artillery shells, while obfuscating the real destination of the arms shipments by trying to make it appear as though they are being sent to countries in the Middle East or North Africa.”

The latest accusations were not backed up by any evidence from the authorities. The disclosed material also lacked information on how many weapons would be included in the shipments or how they would be paid for.