KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s spy chief said on Saturday that Russia’s increased production of guided bombs as well as artillery ammunition deliveries from North Korea pose major problems for Ukrainian forces on the battlefield.
The head of Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence service, Kyrylo Budanov, said North Korean military aid to Russia posed the biggest concern compared to support from Moscow’s other allies.
“They are supplying huge quantities of artillery ammunition, which is crucial for Russia,” he said, pointing to the escalation of battlefield hostilities following such deliveries.
Ukraine and the United States, among other countries and independent analysts, say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is helping Russia in its war against Ukraine by supplying missiles and ammunition in exchange for economic and other military aid from Moscow.
Russia’s surge in the production of guided bombs also posed a “big problem for the front line,” Budanov said at the Yalta European Strategy conference organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in Kiev.
Ukraine’s forces are stretched more than 30 months into the full-scale invasion, working to stave off a Russian advance on key cities in the country’s east. Ukrainian forces have also made inroads into the western Russian region of Kursk.
A ramp-up in production of Iskander-type missiles has resulted in Russia’s “massive use” of weapons to attack Ukraine, Budanov said.
This year’s strikes on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure have caused significant damage to the country’s power grid, leading to blackouts. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has renewed the appeal for air defense support from Ukraine’s allies.
Budanov said that Russian internal planning showed that Moscow will face a recruitment crisis in the middle of next year.
“During this period (summer 2025), they will be faced with a dilemma: either to declare mobilization or to somehow reduce the intensity of hostilities, which in the end could be decisive for them,” Budanov said.
(Reporting by Anastasiia Malenko; Editing by Ros Russell)