North Korea has delivered “over a thousand containers” of military hardware and ammunition to Russia in recent weeks, a White House spokesman said Friday.

This material will be used “to attack Ukrainian cities and to kill Ukrainian civilians,” according to John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council of the US presidency.

Mr. Kerby added that in return, North Korea wants to receive Russian military equipment and “advanced technologies,” particularly aircraft, missiles, armored vehicles and material for building ballistic missiles.

The US has already observed “unloadings from Russian container ships in North Korea, which may have been the first deliveries” of Russian military equipment, according to the spokesman.

This “fully developed military cooperation between North Korea”, including “technology transfer”, is a “threat to the region and the international non-proliferation regime”, the spokesman added, recalling the international embargo on Pyongyang.

We “condemn” North Korea for supplying Russia with military hardware, he insisted.

In September, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Russian soil, with their talks focusing on military issues.