North Korea is supplying Russia about 3 million shells a year amid the war on Ukraine, which has amounted to roughly half of those used by Russia, according to a new Western intelligence report.
The volume has permitted Russia to pick up its ground-gaining in eastern Ukraine, even if the shells are faulty, as Western intelligence believes, The Times U.K. reported Friday.
"Our biggest problem from all these allies of Russia is from North Korea, because with the volume of military products that they supply, they actually affect the intensity of the fighting," Ukraine's head of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, warned last month.
Early in the war, Russia's allies were most hesitant to supply Vladimir Putin's war machine, according to the Times; but Putin has effectively amassed a set of allies as he has warned of the size, scope, and influence of NATO against him.
Russia has been warning the United States and its allies for weeks that if they give permission to Ukraine to strike deep into Russian territory with Western-supplied missiles, then Moscow will consider it a major escalation.
Iran shipped 200 ballistic missiles to Russia, and China has been working with a Russian defense company on long-range drone technology, Times reported.
Western intelligence said it believes it has "clear evidence" China is picking up its military alliance with Russia, according to the report.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has repeated been warning about the growing axis of military rivals Russia, North Korea, China, and Iran.
Amid recent gains in eastern Ukraine, Russia is suffering heavy losses at the rate of 1,200 soldiers a day, according to the Times, citing Western intelligence.
Also, amid Ukraine's incursion into Kursk, Putin is reluctant to take back Russia's own territory, preferring to keep up the pressure in the eastern and southern parts of Ukraine.
"They could mobilize if they wanted to: They chose not to," a Western official told the Times.
"We don't see any sign of Putin resilling from his principal aim, which is the subjugation of Ukraine's sovereignty. I can't see any prospect for a negotiation anytime soon."