North Korea is providing Russia with long-range artillery systems, the British daily Financial Times wrote on Saturday, citing military intelligence data in Kiev. He said that the weapons are being sent to the Kursk Oblast in Russia, where fighting is underway by Russian troops supported by North Korean troops.
These include approximately 50 M1989 Koksan self-propelled howitzers with a caliber of 170 mm and 20 modernized multiple launch missile systems based on the Soviet BM-27 “Uragan” design, which can fire both standard and guided missiles.
Ukrainian military intelligence confirmed the presence of the equipment after photos of North Korean howitzers began circulating online in recent days. They were published, among others, by pro-war Russian channels on Telegram.
The Ukrainian military website Militarnyj wrote that Korean equipment was spotted on a railway platform in the city of Krasnoyarsk in Siberia.
According to the Ukrainian UNIAN agency, Russia reached out for help from North Korea because “artillery reserves in the Russian army are decreasing.”
The key role of the Kim regime
“North Korea has already played a key role in supplying millions of rounds of artillery ammunition to the Russian military in 2023,” the Financial Times recalled. “In return, Moscow provided Pyongyang with military technologies for the development of North Korean missile programs,” says a high-ranking Ukrainian official quoted by the newspaper.
“The deliveries come at a crucial time when Ukrainian and Russian armies are fighting for territorial advantage ahead of the presidency of Donald Trump, who has promised to force a quick end to the almost three-year war,” the British daily comments.
This year North Korea it also supported Russia by sending over 12,000 soldiers to help in the fight against Ukrainewhich, according to the British daily, “even more internationalized the war in Ukraine.”
Main photo source: x.com/Archer83Able