Among Moscow’s allies, North Korea represents “the biggest problem” for Kiev because of its massive deliveries of artillery shells to Russia, which is using them on the Ukrainian front, General Kirill Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence service, said today. of GUR.

“Of all Russia’s allies, our biggest problem is North Korea, because with the volume of military products they supply, they actually affect the intensity of the fighting,” he told a Yalta European Strategy conference in the Ukrainian capital.

North Korean authorities “provide huge volumes of artillery ammunition (…) this is critical for us,” Budanov said. “Unfortunately, (…) we can’t do anything about it now,” he admitted.

“The fact that they also supply ballistic missiles is unpleasant, but” less serious because of the smaller quantity they supply, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence service stressed.

The US and South Korea have accused Pyongyang of providing ammunition and missiles to Russia to support its invasion of Ukraine.

Pyongyang rejects these accusations, but the Conflict Armament Research organization stressed this week that analyzes of debris prove that “missiles produced this year in North Korea are being used in Ukraine.”

Budanov also stressed that Russia had “made significant progress” in the production of Iskander ballistic missiles and had multiplied the number of aerial glide bombs, weapons used by the Russian military to strike civilian and military targets in Ukraine.

“We are now clearly seeing the massive use of Iskander-M missiles” across Ukraine, while “guided bombs are a huge problem on the front lines” where they are being fired at Ukrainian troops, he said.

However, the general estimated that Russia, currently on the offensive in Ukraine, will try to end the war “before 2026” to avoid seeing its positions weakened due to the accumulation of economic problems mainly due to western sanctions and the problems of mobilization, against the background of a large number of losses at the front.

The GUR chief, whose unit is known for daring operations deep inside Russia, brushed aside Western fears of an escalation in Europe’s worst armed conflict since World War Two.

“All these dilemmas: will there be escalation or not? (…) There won’t be,” he said, calling on Westerners “not to be afraid” to better arm Ukraine.

Exhausted by two and a half years of war, Ukrainians will continue to fight, the general assured. “We are fighting for our land and we have no other choice. We can’t say: “I’m tired, that’s it, I’m leaving (…). That’s our strong point,” he said.