Russia buys ammunition from N Korea

WASHINGTON: United States intelligence has assessed that Moscow is buying millions of artillery shells and rockets from North Korea, the New York Times reported.

The news follows earlier reports that the Russian military has begun using Iranianmade drones.

US officials confirmed the report was accurate and additional Russian buys of North Korean military equipment were expected.

‘‘The Russian Ministry of Defence is in the process of purchasing millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea for use on the battlefield in Ukraine,’’ an official said.

The official said the buys indicated the Russian military ‘‘continues to suffer from severe supply shortages in Ukraine, due in part to export controls and sanctions.’’

‘‘We expect Russia could try to purchase additional North Korean military equipment going forward,’’ the official said.

The newspaper quoted US government officials as having said that the buys showed USled sanctions had begun to bite and to reduce Russia’s ability to sustain its invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow has called a ‘‘special military operation’’.

The report said that the recently declassified intelligence provided no details about what was bought beyond that the items included artillery shells and rockets.

Last month, a US official said Russia’s Iranianmade drones had suffered ‘‘numerous failures’’.

The official said Russia most likely planned to acquire hundreds of Mohajer6 and Shahedseries unmanned aerial vehicles.

Ukraine recently launched counteroffensives in several locations, including around Kherson, which Russia has occupied since early in the invasion — in preparation for those attacks, Ukrainian forces struck Russian supply areas, including those containing artillery and ammunition.

European gas prices soared yesterday as Russia kept its main gas pipeline to Germany shut, bringing fears of a bleak winter for consumers and businesses across the continent.

Russia blames disruption to equipment repairs and maintenance caused by Western sanctions for its halt to the flow of gas through Nord Stream 1, its main pipeline to Germany.

Russia was due to reopen the pipeline on Saturday but has now said an oil leak has forced it to shut indefinitely.

Gazprom said yesterday Nord Stream 1 would not resume shipments until Siemens Energy repaired faulty equipment.

Siemens said at the weekend it had not been commissioned to carry out repairs and the leak reported by Gazprom would not usually affect the operation of the pipeline.