• North Korea has sent Russia large quantities of artillery shells.

• Some are defective, causing damage to weapons and injuring Russian soldiers, Ukraine’s army said.

• Experts have questioned the quality of North Korean ammunition.

Russia is using low-quality artillery shells from North Korea that are often defective and cause problems on the front lines, Ukraine’s army said.

In some cases, the North Korean-supplied shells are damaging the barrels of cannons and mortars and are even injuring soldiers.

It is particularly a problem in the “Dnepr” grouping of forces operating around the southern Kherson region under the command of Col. Gen. Mikhail Teplinsky, according to Ukraine’s army.

Teplinsky, the commander of Moscow’s Airborne Forces, or VDV, was recently put in charge of the area, where fighting has been raging in recent weeks.

North Korea, one of Russia’s few international allies, has sent large it quantities of ammunition. One South Korean lawmaker estimated that Pyongyang had sent at least a million shells, per Politico.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited North Korea in August to ask for ammunition amid reports that Russian forces were suffering from shortages.

Defense expert Trevor Taylor from the London-based Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies previously told Politico that it was unclear whether the North Korean ammunition was of a reliable quality.

“North Korea runs a war economy, which we don’t,” Taylor said. “But whether the ammunition they are supplying is at the standard of reliability and safety that the Europeans would adhere to is another question.”

Meanwhile, fears are also growing of a Ukrainian shell famine as Western military aid shows signs of faltering.

During its counteroffensive in the summer, Ukrainian forces were burning through artillery shells at a rate of about 7,000 rounds a day, according to figures from Estonia’s defense ministry.

The Kiel Institute, which has tracked aid promised and sent to Ukraine, said in an update earlier this month that while the new US aid package was delayed to next year, the EU’s commitment to supply one million rounds of ammunition has stalled.

Israel’s war with Hamas could also divert tens of thousands of artillery rounds intended for Ukraine, Axios reported in October.

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