North Korea Supplied 50%-70% of Artillery Shells Used by Russia in Ukraine

Russian forces fighting in Ukraine are increasingly dependent on artillery shells supplied by North Korea, according to documents reviewed by Reuters and satellite data analyzed by the U.K.-based Open Source Center.

Between September 2023 and March 2025, four Russian-flagged cargo ships made 64 trips between North Korea and Russian ports, carrying nearly 16,000 containers, according to OSC’s analysis. These shipments are estimated to have included between 4 million and 6 million artillery shells—surpassing Russia’s domestic production, which Western and Ukrainian officials believe did not exceed 2.3 million shells in 2024.

At least six Russian military unit reports examined by Reuters indicated that between 50% and 100% of their ammunition came from North Korea as recently as 2025. In some units, internal records showed up to 100% reliance on North Korean-made shells.

"Without help from the DPRK, the Russian army shelling of Ukrainian defensive positions would have been cut in half,” Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) told Reuters.

Defense analyst Konrad Muzyka of Rochan Consulting stated that the imported munitions helped Russia sustain its military pace since late 2023. “The scale of this support is enormous,” he noted.

Deliveries from North Korea peaked in January 2024, when cargo ships made seven trips that month alone. The ammunition was transported from the port of Rajin to Russia’s Danube and Vostochny ports and then moved by rail—mostly to Tikhoretsk in Krasnodar Krai near the Ukrainian border.