Russia has been forced to resort to buying millions of rockets and artillery shells from impoverished North Korea for its ongoing invasion of Ukraine amid crippling Western sanctions and devastating war losses, US officials have said.
A US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said on Monday that the fact Russia is turning to the isolated state of North Korea demonstrates that 'the Russian military continues to suffer from severe supply shortages in Ukraine, due in part to export controls and sanctions.'
U.S. officials believe that the Russians could look to purchase additional North Korean military equipment in the future, according to a newly downgraded intelligence finding that was first reported by the New York Times.
The U.S. official did not detail how much weaponry Russia intends to purchase from North Korea.
The finding comes after the Biden administration recently confirmed that the Russian military in August took delivery of Iranian-manufactured drones for use on the battlefield in Ukraine.
The White House said last week that Russia has faced technical problems with Iranian-made drones acquired from Tehran in August for use in its war with Ukraine.
Russia picked up Mohajer-6 and Shahed-series unmanned aerial vehicles over several days last month as part what the Biden administration says is likely part of a Russian plan to acquire hundreds of Iranian UAVs for use in Ukraine.
North Korea has sought to tighten relations with Russia as much of Europe and the West has pulled away, blaming the United States for the Ukraine crisis and decrying the West's 'hegemonic policy' as justifying military action by Russia in Ukraine to protect itself.
The North Koreans have hinted interest in sending construction workers to help rebuild Russian-occupied territories in the country's east.
North Korea's ambassador to Moscow recently met with envoys from two Russia-backed separatist territories in the Donbas region of Ukraine and expressed optimism about cooperation in the 'field of labor migration,' citing his country's easing pandemic border controls.
In July, North Korea became the only nation aside from Russia and Syria to recognize the independence of the territories, Donetsk and Luhansk, further aligning with Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.
The North's arms export to Russia would be a violation of U.N. resolutions that ban the country from exporting to or importing weapons from other countries. Its possible dispatch of laborers to the Russian-held territories in Ukraine would also breach a U.N. resolution that required all member states to repatriate all North Korean workers from their soil by 2019.