Ukrainian drones, targeting Russian military sites, are zeroing in on missiles and artillery stockpiles from North Korea, now Russia’s top arms supplier. At the same time, a Ukrainian missile killed six North Korean military officers and wounded three more last week in occupied Ukraine. These are believed to be the first soldiers sent by a foreign government to bolster Russia.

Six weeks ago, a South Korean Defense Intelligence Agency report said that North Korea has sent more than 13,000 shipping containers of arms to Russia over the previous two years. This is equivalent of 6 million 152-millimeter artillery shells. This was double an estimate of 6,700 containers given to reporters only six months earlier by South Korea’s defense minister, Shin Won-sik. 

“The worst problem we are facing is the one coming from North Korea,” Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, said last month at the Yalta European Security conference at Kyiv. The Ukrainian commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, estimated that the Russian Army fires shells at a ratio of 2:1 to the Ukrainian Army. 

By some estimates, North Korea this year supplies half the artillery shells that Russia uses in the war. The South Korean report said: “To prepare for a prolonged war in Ukraine, Russia has moved to formalize North Korea as a supply base for weapons and ammunition.”

Now Ukraine follows an American military strategy of ‘going to the left’ of the boom — hitting North Korean and Iranian munitions before they can be used. Since Washington does not allow Kyiv to use American-made missiles on military targets in Russia, Ukraine uses its own drones and missiles.

Of three drone swarm attacks over the last three days, the most spectacular was on a major ammunition dump in Russia’s Bryansk region, about 50 miles north of Ukraine. Supplied by rail, the ammo dump had many shells and missiles stacked in the open air.

“According to available information, missiles and artillery weapons, including those that came from North Korea, as well as guided aerial bombs, were stored on the territory of the warehouse,” Ukraine’s General Staff posted Wednesday on  Telegram. “A significant number were located under the open sky.” The military posted videos of major explosions followed by secondary explosions, apparently from the arsenal at Karachev.

In another attack, Ukrainian drones reportedly blew up a stockpile of nearly 400 Iranian drones near Yeysk, about 200 miles south of the front lines. “Nearly 400 strike drones were stored there,” said the General Staff. “A direct hit was made on the target. Secondary explosions were observed at the site.” It added that the attack was carried out jointly by naval forces and the SBU intelligence service. Participation of the Navy indicates that a Ukrainian-made Neptune cruise missile was involved.

Over the past two years, Russia has fired more than 8,000 Iranian Shahed drones at Ukraine. In September alone, Russia hit Ukraine with more than 1,300 Shaheds. Russia is building a Shahed factory under Iranian license. Separately, Russian soldiers are training in Iran on Fath-360 ballistic missiles, which have a maximum range of 75 miles.

Ukrainian air defenses have largely caught up with the Shaheds. From March to August of this year, Ukraine managed to shoot down 91 percent of all incoming Shaheds, according to a count by Defense News. Last summer, Russia fired missiles and bombs that  killed nearly 600 Ukrainian civilians and injured 2,700.

Much of the carnage is caused by guided bombs released by Russian Sukhoi war jets. Yesterday, a swarm of Ukrainian drones flew 300 miles south of the front lines into the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains, to the town of Maykop. There, they hoped to damage or destroy some of 16 Sukhoi fighter bombers parked at Khanskaya Air Base. Last summer, as Ukraine lobbied the Biden Administration for use of the American-made missiles, Russia moved its fighter bombers  out of range — at least 200 miles. Yesterday, NASA fire detection satellites picked up a major fire at Maykop. Analysts debate whether it was an aviation fuel depot or some of the warjets.

Another big fire that NASA is picking up is the oil depot at Feodosia, the largest oil tank farm in Russia-occupied Crimea. By last night, the fire had spread to 10 tanks and was starting its fifth day.

The North Korean military officers killed  by the Ukrainian missile strike October 3 on Russia-controlled Donetsk seemed to be advising Russians on the use of Hwasong-11Ga ballistic missiles. Capable of carrying 1,000-pound warheads 500 miles, the Hwasong, also known as KN-23, are being used for the first time in a war. Last May, a Ukrainian official told reporters that about half of the North Korean missiles went off course, exploding in midair or  crashing into fields.

Over the past year, Russia has fired 65 North Korean missiles into Ukraine, according to deputy assistant secretary of state Robert Koepcke. The North Korean officers presumably were studying how to make them more reliable and accurate. Dozens of North Korean officers work behind Russian lines to “support launcher systems for KN-23 missiles,” Britain’s Guardian news site reported yesterday, citing Ukrainian sources. 

“We believe there have been injuries and fatalities among North Korean troops in Ukraine,” Seoul’s defense minister, Kim Yong-hyun, told South Korea’s parliament on Tuesday. “The relations between Russia and North Korea are evolving to be almost as close as a military alliance. As such, more North Korean troops could be deployed in the war.”

The Kremlin denies buying weapons from North Korea. Asked yesterday about the reports of North Korean casualties, including three officers undergoing treatment in a Moscow hospital, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today: “This looks like another bit of fake news.”

Kim Yo Jung, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has been sharper saying: “The absurdity of accusing our country of being an ‘accomplice’ to the war in Ukraine, where the evil Zelensky gang is slaughtering innocent Russians, using junk weapons supplied by the U.S. and the West, is a reckless political provocation that cannot be justified by anything.”In June, on a trip to Pyongyang, President Putin and Mr. Kim signed a mutual defense pact.

On Monday, President Putin’s 72 birthday, Mr. Kim sent greetings to his “closest comrade” and said the two nations’ military alliance will make them “invincible.” Today, Mr. Putin is to meet Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkianon, on the sidelines of a forum at Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. Last week, Russia’s prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin, visited Tehran for talks with Mr. Pezeshkian.