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Russia has begun firing ballistic missiles provided by North Korea into Ukraine, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive U.S. intelligence.
Russia's previously unreported use of North Korean ballistic missiles indicates North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's growing support for Moscow's war effort.
It also shows Russian President Vladimir Putin's ability to lean on pariah countries to make up for deficiencies in his own arsenal as the war in Ukraine enters its third calendar year.
“Russia is increasingly isolated on the world stage and forced to turn to like-minded states for military equipment,” said a U.S. official, who attributed Russia’s limited options in part to sanctions imposed by Washington.
“According to our information, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea recently provided Russia with ballistic missile launchers and several dozen ballistic missile launchers – and Russia has fired several ballistic missiles into Ukraine,” the official said.
A second official said the North Korean projectiles were short-range ballistic missiles that Moscow fired in late December and early January.
Michael Kofman, a military analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said Russia's war effort was boosted by arms imports.
“Russia's mobilized defense industrial production now produces significantly more missiles per month than before the war. However, this is still not enough relative to its needs and cannot replace the missile stockpile it has used up over the past two years,” he said. “This means that Russia would benefit from having access to an additional supply from countries like North Korea.”
While officials said Pyongyang has provided “several dozen ballistic missiles” so far, it is unclear what the scope of the weapons North Korea has sent was or how much it plans to deliver in the coming months.
In November, South Korea accused North Korea of supplying Russia with several types of missiles, including anti-tank missiles, man-portable anti-aircraft missiles, ballistic missiles and rifles, rocket launchers, mortars and grenades.
The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Russia began delivering North Korean ballistic missiles several weeks ago.
This is a developing story.