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- Russia is now getting a million artillery shells from North Korea, per Ukrainian intelligence.
- Meanwhile, Ukraine is struggling to get supplies from its own allies amid production delays.
- The gap in supplies to Russia and Ukraine has real-world consequences.
Ukraine says Russia is getting a million artillery shells from North Korea as it is struggling with its own supplies from its allies.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made the statement on Thursday.
"Intelligence confirms that Russia will receive a million artillery shells from Pyongyang," Zelenskyy said, per an official translation of his video address.
"Meanwhile, unfortunately, the implementation of the European plan to supply one million artillery shells to Ukraine is being delayed," he said.
The EU has failed to deliver the one million rounds of ammunition promised to Ukraine in March last year, with production rates still lagging.
The EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said on Thursday that the EU delivered 330,000 rounds of artillery ammunition to Ukraine between March 2023 and January, and that he expects the bloc to deliver a total of 524,000 rounds by March 2024 — about half of the rounds initially pledged.
"But this is a work in progress," he said. "The whole machinery here at the European defense industry is working, and Member States are passing commands."
Meanwhile, Republicans in the House of Representatives continue to block a $66 billion aid package for Ukraine, amid partisan squabbling over linked border security measures.
The gap in supplies to Russia and Ukraine has real-world consequences.
Ukrainian soldiers have reported struggling to fend off massive Russian attacks and hold their positions on the front lines amid a shortage of Western-provided ammunition and Russia's higher production rates.
Ukraine is limited to firing 2,000 artillery shells a day, roughly a third of Russia's capacity, the country's defense minister, Rustem Umerov, said in a recent letter sent to his EU counterparts.
In his address, Zelenskyy said that North Korea sending more than one million artillery shells to Russia is a "signal of global competition, in which Europe cannot afford to lose."