Russia wants weapons from North Korea? Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un have…

The White House said that it has new intelligence which showed that Russian president Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have swapped letters as Russia is seeking more weapons from North Korea amid the Ukraine war.

National security council spokesman John Kirby said that it had determined that Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu during a recent visit to Pyongyang called on North Korean officials to increase the sale of munitions to Moscow. Russia is looking for additional artillery shells and other basic material to shore up Russia’s defense industrial base, he said.

Earlier, the Joe Biden administration said that the Kremlin has become reliant on North Korea as well as Iran for the arms. North Korea and Iran are largely isolated on the international stage owing to their nuclear programs and human rights records.

In March this year, the White House said that it had gathered intelligence showing that Russia was looking to broker a food-for-arms deal with North Korea under which Moscow would provide North Korea with food and other commodities in return for munition. Last year, the White House said it had determined that the Wagner Group had taken delivery of an arms shipment from North Korea. Both North Korea and Russia have previously denied the allegations.

North Korea, however, has sided with Russia over the war in Ukraine, asserting that the “hegemonic policy” of the West has forced Moscow to take military action.

This comes as drone attacks targeted multiple regions of Russia in a retaliatory strike as the authorities in Kyiv battled the heaviest air assault the city has faced since the spring. At least two people were killed and three wounded amid housing damage and falling debris in Ukraine’s capital region, local authorities said. Air defense forces said they shot down 28 Russian cruise missiles and 15 drones overnight in Kyiv.

“The war is increasingly moving to Russia’s territory and it cannot be stopped,” Mykhailo Podalyak, an aide to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, wrote on social media.