North Korea has provided Russia with 120 artillery pieces, and there are still 11,000 North Korean military personnel in the Kursk region - Budanov

North Korea is transferring long-range artillery to Russia, which has proven itself well in the war. In particular, Russia has North Korean guns in its arsenal that shoot at long distances. This was stated by the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov, in an interview to The War Zone, reports UNN.

Details

Kyrylo Budanov in a large interview with The War Zone spoke about the strengthening of military-technical cooperation between Russia and North Korea, the exchange of military technologies and ready-made weapons, which Russia uses in the war against Ukraine.

Asked about the supply of North Korean weapons to the Russian Federation, Budanov said that Ukraine has enough intelligence to confirm this fact.

The range of weapons that North Korea provides to Russia is quite wide, ranging from 122-mm D-74 howitzers and 107-mm infantry MLRS systems to 240-mm MLRS and 170-mm M1989 self-propelled artillery guns. Unfortunately, this gun is quite good in combat. It shoots from a fairly long distance and has good accuracy rates

Budanov also specified how many North Korean guns are in service with Russia.

We have data that 120 units were provided to the Russian Federation. But I think that these deliveries will continue, because these guns are quite good. This is unfortunate for us, because it is artillery for long-range shooting

Separately, Budanov informed about the deployment of North Korean military in Russia.

There are about 11,000 North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region. But there is also the problem of the visit (Serhiy Shoigu, - The War Zone), the secretary of the National Security Council of the Russian Federation, to North Korea. And there, among other things, he agreed on the start of work of so-called labor migrants on the territory of Russia, in order to partially replace labor migrants from Central Asia, whom they consider unstable for their state and vulnerable to recruitment by our special services and Western ones. But there is a high probability that people among these labor migrants will start signing contracts with the Ministry of Defense of Russia. And these will not be soldiers from North Korea. These will be Russian soldiers, but of North Korean nationality

Additionally

Earlier, intelligence repeatedly warned about increased cooperation between Russia and the DPRK. North Korean artillery, in particular heavy systems, is increasingly recorded on the fronts of Russia's war against Ukraine. North Korea not only does not hide this cooperation, but also publicly declares its legality.

Let's remind

At the beginning of June of this year, the head of the scientific and expert council at the Russian Security Council, Serhiy Shoigu, visited the DPRK, where met with Kim Jong-un to discuss support for the Russian Federation in the war against Ukraine.

In July 2023, Serhiy Shoigu also traveled to North Korea. Following the results of that visit, it was announced that the defense partnership between the two countries had been strengthened.