First On Cnn Us Accuses North Korea Of Trying To Hide Ammunition Shipments To Russia

  The US accuses North Korea of ​​secretly supplying Russia with artillery shells for the Ukraine war, concealing where they are being transported, according to newly declassified information.   

  US officials believe North Korea’s covert missions – along with drones and other weapons Russia has acquired from Iran – are further evidence that even Moscow’s conventional artillery arsenals have been depleted during eight months of fighting.  North Korea is trying to hide the shipments by making it appear that the munitions are being sent to countries in the Middle East or North Africa, intelligence agencies say.   

  The latest information comes about two months after the U.S. intelligence community said it believed Russia was in the process of buying millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea for use on the battlefield, CNN and other media outlets reported at the time.   

  “In September, (the DPRK) publicly denied that it intended to provide munitions to Russia,” National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said in a statement to CNN.  “However, our intelligence indicates that the DPRK is secretly supplying Russia’s war in Ukraine with a significant number of artillery shells, while disguising the true destination of the arms shipments by trying to make it appear as if they are being sent to countries in the Middle East or North Africa.” .   

  Officials did not provide evidence to support the new claims.  The declassified information also did not provide details on how many weapons are part of the shipments or how they would be paid for.   

  “We will continue to monitor whether these shipments are received,” Kirby said.   

  US officials, however, have publicly touted the alleged deal as evidence that Russia is running out of weapons to continue the war.   

  Just two weeks ago, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines argued that “export controls are forcing Russia to turn to countries like Iran and North Korea for supplies, including UAVs, artillery shells and rockets.”   

  But the missions may now help Russia bolster an important part of its war effort: a front-line artillery battle.   

  “It could be a significant development because one of the challenges for Russia has been maintaining artillery fire,” said Michael Kofman, director of the Russia Studies Program at the Center for Naval Analyses, who stressed he was not aware of the underlying information.  “The Russian military has probably gone through millions of shells at this point.”   

  Russia is “compensating for the manpower deficit with a lot more firepower,” Kofman said, a strategy he said was “probably very expensive for munitions supplies” and left Russia, like Ukraine, searching the world for countries with Soviet – caliber artillery supplies compatible with its war-sustaining systems.   

  In the weeks before the new information was obtained, some military and intelligence officials began to believe that North Korea was backing away from its agreement to provide weapons to Russia, multiple officials told CNN.   

  Some officials had begun touting it as a victory for the Biden administration’s strategy to declassify and release some classified information about Russia’s pursuit of war, believing that when the United States made the deal known, it shed an unwanted light on a transaction which Pyongyang did not want to reveal.   

  But now, US officials say that despite North Korea’s denials, they believe the rogue regime has moved forward with its support for Moscow as the war looks poised to end in its second year.   

  U.S. officials have argued publicly that Russia has been forced to turn to North Korea and Iran for weapons both because it has burned through its stockpile in a conflict that has stretched many months longer than expected and because U.S. and U.S. export controls Westerners have made it more difficult.  so that Russia can acquire the technological elements it needs to rebuild its reserves on its own.   

  New information that Russia is acquiring artillery shells from North Korea suggests its shortcomings run deeper than just more sophisticated, precision-guided munitions, which the U.S. and Western officials have long highlighted as a weak spot in Russia’s arsenal. .  It also extends to basic artillery.   

  “The Russians, in many ways, are really tight-lipped when it comes to some of these inputs that they need to prosecute their war against Ukraine,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said Tuesday, pointing to export controls and sanctions that have starved Russia.  of inputs for the manufacture of certain weapons.   

  The exact status of Russia’s conventional munitions stockpile is not publicly known, but Russia is “burning through tens of thousands of rounds a day,” said Adam Mount, director of the Defense Posture Program at the Federation of American Scientists, who specializes in North Korea.  “They’re worried about ammunition wherever they can find it.”   

  Over the summer, Russia was able to make some impressive progress in areas of Ukraine through a punitive artillery campaign.  But since then, Western-supplied artillery has fueled a successful counteroffensive by Ukraine, which has recaptured large swaths of territory previously held by Russia.   

  North Korea will likely be able to provide Russia with 122- or 152-millimeter artillery shells and either tube artillery or multiple rocket launcher artillery that will be compatible with Russia’s systems, said Bruce Klingner, a former CIA Korea analyst .  now at the Heritage Foundation.   

  But for now, it’s unclear how much of an impact North Korea’s artillery shells will have on Russia on the battlefield.   

  In 2010, North Korea fired 170 122mm projectiles at South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island.  Less than half hit the island, and of those, about a quarter failed to detonate – a high failure rate that “suggests that some DPRK-made artillery munitions, especially (multiple rocket launchers) suffer from either poor quality control during manufacturing or that storage conditions and standards are poor,” according to a 2016 report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.   

  “The last time they used these systems showed that their systems were pretty inaccurate,” Mount said.  “You would expect these Soviet-era systems to age and so they would start to break down.”   

  This has been updated with additional references.   

title: “First On Cnn Us Accuses North Korea Of Trying To Hide Ammunition Shipments To Russia " ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-02” author: “Sam Orrick”

  The US accuses North Korea of ​​secretly supplying Russia with artillery shells for the Ukraine war, concealing where they are being transported, according to newly declassified information.   

  US officials believe North Korea’s covert missions – along with drones and other weapons Russia has acquired from Iran – are further evidence that even Moscow’s conventional artillery arsenals have been depleted during eight months of fighting.  North Korea is trying to hide the shipments by making it appear that the munitions are being sent to countries in the Middle East or North Africa, intelligence agencies say.   

  The latest information comes about two months after the U.S. intelligence community said it believed Russia was in the process of buying millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea for use on the battlefield, CNN and other media outlets reported at the time.   

  “In September, (the DPRK) publicly denied that it intended to provide munitions to Russia,” National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said in a statement to CNN.  “However, our intelligence indicates that the DPRK is secretly supplying Russia’s war in Ukraine with a significant number of artillery shells, while disguising the true destination of the arms shipments by trying to make it appear as if they are being sent to countries in the Middle East or North Africa.” .   

  Officials did not provide evidence to support the new claims.  The declassified information also did not provide details on how many weapons are part of the shipments or how they would be paid for.   

  “We will continue to monitor whether these shipments are received,” Kirby said, noting that Russia continues to look to actors such as North Korea and Iran to maintain its war of aggression in Ukraine “amid supply shortages and the effectiveness of international sanctions”.   

  US officials, however, have publicly touted the alleged deal as evidence that Russia is running out of weapons to continue the war.   

  Just two weeks ago, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines argued that “export controls are forcing Russia to turn to countries like Iran and North Korea for supplies, including UAVs, artillery shells and rockets.”   

  Kirby said on Wednesday that support from Iran and North Korea “is not going to change the course of the war”, with the US remaining committed to providing Ukraine with continued security assistance.   

  But the missions may now help Russia bolster an important part of its war effort: a front-line artillery battle.   

  “It could be a significant development because one of the challenges for Russia has been maintaining artillery fire,” said Michael Kofman, director of the Russia Studies Program at the Center for Naval Analyses, who stressed he was not aware of the underlying information.  “The Russian military has probably gone through millions of shells at this point.”   

  Russia is “compensating for the manpower deficit with a lot more firepower,” Kofman said, a strategy he said was “probably very expensive for munitions supplies” and left Russia, like Ukraine, searching the world for countries with Soviet – caliber artillery supplies compatible with its war-sustaining systems.   

  In the weeks before the new information was obtained, some military and intelligence officials began to believe that North Korea was backing away from its agreement to provide weapons to Russia, multiple officials told CNN.   

  Some officials had begun touting it as a victory for the Biden administration’s strategy to declassify and release some classified information about Russia’s pursuit of war, believing that when the United States made the deal known, it shed an unwanted light on a transaction which Pyongyang did not want to reveal.   

  But now, US officials say that despite North Korea’s denials, they believe the rogue regime has moved forward with its support for Moscow as the war looks poised to end in its second year.   

  U.S. officials have argued publicly that Russia has been forced to turn to North Korea and Iran for weapons both because it has burned through its stockpile in a conflict that has stretched many months longer than expected and because U.S. and U.S. export controls Westerners have made it more difficult.  so that Russia can acquire the technological elements it needs to rebuild its reserves on its own.   

  U.S. officials have said they will work to uncover and address shipments to Russia from Iran and North Korea and target the networks that enable those shipments, but have not explicitly explained how they plan to do so.   

  State Department spokesman Ned Price said Tuesday that the U.S. military has “engaged in interdictions” of arms shipments in the past, but would not say whether the interdictions are considered an arms flow to Russia.   

  New information that Russia is acquiring artillery shells from North Korea suggests its shortcomings run deeper than just more sophisticated, precision-guided munitions, which the U.S. and Western officials have long highlighted as a weak spot in Russia’s arsenal. .  It also extends to basic artillery.   

  “The Russians, by many accounts, are really tight-lipped when it comes to some of these inputs that they need to prosecute their war against Ukraine,” Price said on Tuesday, pointing to export controls and sanctions that have starved the Russia for inputs.  craft certain weapons.   

  The exact status of Russia’s conventional munitions stockpile is not publicly known, but Russia is “burning through tens of thousands of rounds a day,” said Adam Mount, director of the Defense Posture Program at the Federation of American Scientists, who specializes in North Korea.  “They’re worried about ammunition wherever they can find it.”   

  Over the summer, Russia was able to make some impressive progress in areas of Ukraine through a punitive artillery campaign.  But since then, Western-supplied artillery has fueled a successful counteroffensive by Ukraine, which has recaptured large swaths of territory previously held by Russia.   

  North Korea will likely be able to provide Russia with 122- or 152-millimeter artillery shells and either tube artillery or multiple rocket launcher artillery that will be compatible with Russia’s systems, said Bruce Klingner, a former CIA Korea analyst .  now at the Heritage Foundation.   

  But for now, it’s unclear how much of an impact North Korea’s artillery shells will have on Russia on the battlefield.   

  In 2010, North Korea fired 170 122mm projectiles at South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island.  Less than half hit the island, and of those, about a quarter failed to detonate – a high failure rate that “suggests that some DPRK-made artillery munitions, especially (multiple rocket launchers) suffer from either poor quality control during manufacturing or that storage conditions and standards are poor,” according to a 2016 report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.   

  “The last time they used these systems showed that their systems were pretty inaccurate,” Mount said.  “You would expect these Soviet-era systems to age and so they would start to break down.”   

  This has been updated with additional references.