According to US intelligence officials, Russia has obtained North Korean ballistic missiles through Iran. It has been discovered that this action was essential to replenish the resources that the Russian military had depleted during their conflict with Ukraine.
Newly released intelligence reveals information on the North Koreans supplying Russia with ballistic missile launchers and a number of close-range ballistic missiles, as per The Associated Press.
Report: Russia Relies on North Korea, Iran
"Russian forces fired at least one of those ballistic missiles into Ukraine on Dec. 30 and it landed in an open field in the Zaporizhian region, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby reportedly said.
Russia's forces in Ukraine fired several of these ballistic missiles as part of an overnight attack. The missiles have a range of 550 miles (885 kilometers).
The US intelligence further states that, in return, the regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will acquire aircraft, surface-to-air missiles, armored vehicles, ballistic missile production equipment, and other incentives.
Kirby said a Russia-Iran agreement had not yet come to fruition, but that the United States "is concerned that Russia's negotiations to acquire close-range ballistic missiles from Iran are actively advancing."
The high-level assessment coincides with intelligence from South Korea that reflected this belief as well. The Biden administration has repeatedly sought to make the case that the Kremlin has become reliant on North Korea and Iran in the past. The thirst for arms to resupply its war effort against Ukraine seems apparent, intelligence backs that up.
The White House also believes Russia has received hundreds of one-way drones, and drone assembly kits, from Iran. Meanwhile, Kim Jong Un paid an official state visit to President Vladimir Putin in September.
Kirby said the US would raise its concerns about the arms arrangement findings at the U.N. Security Council and would look to impose additional sanctions against North Korean and Iranian individuals and entities facilitating weapons transfers with Russia.
The relationship between Russia and North Korea goes back to the formation of North Korea in 1948 when Russia installed Kim II Sung, the grandfather of Kim Jong Un, as the first North Korean leader. Russia further subsidized North Korea with aid shipments for decades before the fall of the Soviet Union.
