The Times, citing sources familiar with Western intelligence, claims that North Korea provides Russia with half of all artillery shells used by Russians on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Such dependence of Russia on supplies from the DPRK was formed after the Kremlin dictator Putin personally visited Pyongyang at the beginning of the year. The total amount of ammunition in question may be approximately three million units per year.
Despite the fact that some of them are faulty, it is the scale of supply that ensures Russians' advancement on the frontline. At the same time, Russia's losses amount to about 1,200 soldiers per day, almost half of whom were killed in the battle for Pokrovsk alone.
Ukrainian intel believes that the Russians are unable to simultaneously capture Pokrovsk and push Ukrainian troops out of the Kursk Region without calling for mobilisation, but the Kremlin has not yet decided to take such a step. The prospects for negotiations in the near future are also out of the question.