North Korea may increase military supplies to Russia – ISW
Pravda Ukraine
North Korea may increase supplies to Russia amid deepening bilateral cooperation. Satellite imagery has captured suspicious activity at the port of Rason, which could indicate the transfer of cargo, including military supplies.
Source: Institute for the Study of War (ISW)
Quote: “Russian and North Korean state media reported that Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Consular Department Head Andrei Klimov and North Korean Ambassador to Russia Sin Hong Chol met with a high-ranking North Korean delegation, including North Korean Politburo member Ri Hi Yong, in Moscow.”
Details: On 24 February, the Russian Embassy in Pyongyang reported that delegations were discussing the strengthening of cooperation between Russia’s United Russia Party and North Korea’s Workers’ Party as part of the strategic partnership agreed between the two nations in December 2024.
Meanwhile, the South Korean newspaper Korea JoongAng Daily released satellite images from Planet Labs PBC, which could indicate heightened cargo traffic between Russia and North Korea.
The satellites identified a 110-metre-long vessel docked at the port of Rason, located near the borders with China and Russia. Additionally, a row of containers measuring roughly 100 metres in length can be seen near the dock.
Quote: “The vessel reportedly arrived at the inner side of Rason Port’s pier on February 20 and moved to the outer side on February 21, indicating that the vessel unloaded containers on the pier’s inner side and loaded new containers on the outer side before departing.”
Details: ISW previously stated that in November 2023, North Korea might have used the port to ship munitions to Vladivostok. The continued activity at Rason Port could signal an increase in the supply of resources that Russia may be utilising to support its war against Ukraine.
To quote the ISW’s Key Takeaways on 25 February:
- Russian leader Vladimir Putin implicitly acknowledged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the legitimate president of Ukraine and Russia’s future negotiating partner while promoting a new information operation that aims to destabilise Ukrainian society and the Ukrainian military from within.
- Putin attempted to use new language to repackage the calls for regime change in Ukraine that he has demanded since 2021.
- Putin offered to make a deal with the United States on Russian rare earth minerals as part of efforts to outbid Ukraine on this matter and to push the United States to accept Russian offers of economic measures in lieu of any actual Russian concessions on Ukraine.
- Putin attempted to claim that he supports Europe’s participation in negotiations on Ukraine while continuing to show his unwillingness to make concessions and seemingly proposing Russian allies as possible future negotiating parties.
- Kremlin officials continue to exploit diplomatic engagements with Russia’s allies to reinforce Moscow’s narrative that Russia invaded Ukraine to protect Russian-speaking minorities in Ukraine.
- A delegation from North Korea’s Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) arrived in Moscow on 25 February at the invitation of Russia’s ruling party, United Russia, amid reports that North Korea may be shipping more material to Russia.
- Western officials continue to highlight the scale of European military aid to Ukraine.
- Russian forces recently advanced in Kursk Oblast and near Kupiansk, Lyman, and Velyka Novosilka, and Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Kupiansk.
- Samara Oblast authorities reduced one-time payments to soldiers who sign military service contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) after temporarily increasing these payments in January 2025.
- The BBC Russian Service reported on 25 February that over 100 Russian government, military, and security officials accused and convicted of various corruption charges are fighting in Ukraine.
- The Kremlin continues efforts to use its “Time of Heroes” programme, which places veterans of the war in Ukraine in government positions, to form a new Russian elite composed of loyal and ultranationalist veterans that will continue to militarise Russian society over the long term.
- Russia may be reopening a Soviet-era submarine base in occupied Crimea.
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