Thousands of tanks and howitzers: an expert assessed what weapons Putin could beg from Kim

Alexander Kovalenko believes that Putin came to ask primarily for military equipment.

North Korea still has large enough stockpiles of weapons that Vladimir Putin can beg from Kim Jong-un. And it’s not so much about shells, but about military equipment, says military-political commentator Alexander Kovalenko .

First of all, the analyst denied the possibility of sending North Korean army units to the front in Ukraine, which Russian propaganda is trying to “disperse”. In his opinion, this option is unlikely, if only because of the problems of the language barrier, which will greatly interfere at the front.

“Not thousands of Korean special forces will replenish the Russian troops, but hundreds of thousands and even millions of ammunition. This is obvious. The supply of 152-mm and 122-mm artillery ammunition, 122-mm rockets, 120-mm and 82-mm mines will continue,” he believes Kovalenko, commenting on the agreements signed in Pyongyang.

In addition, the analyst believes that Putin is seeking supplies of military equipment from N, which even Russian propaganda does not talk about. According to Kovalenko, the reserves of Soviet equipment in Russian warehouses will be exhausted this year, and the aggressor will no longer be able to make up for the losses in it from warehouse stocks.

“The Russian media spread nonsense about 100,500 Korean special forces and extol the supply of shells and missiles to Russia, but keep silent about the fact of negotiations on equipment. Because if it is mentioned, then they will acknowledge the depletion of warehouses and the proximity to complete depletion,” the analyst believes.

According to Kovalenko’s calculations, the DPRK has substantial reserves of Soviet equipment:

tanks T-54/55 (up to 2 thousand) and T-62 in the local version of Cheonma-ho;
artillery barrels 115 mm 2A20 and 125 mm 2A46;
a large number of artillery systems of 152 and 122 mm caliber;
reactive 122-mm MLRS – analogues of the BM-21 “Grad”;
up to 10 thousand mortars of 120 mm and 82 mm calibers;
thousands of different modifications of wheeled and tracked combat armored vehicles.

“Of course, Kim Jong-un will not provide Putin with as much as he asks for. One of the reasons is that Eun is paranoid, who believes in the danger to him from Japan, the South Caucasus and the United States, and therefore he himself needs this equipment for protection. But sharing is prohibitive price, of course, like a brother, he can handle several hundred tanks and even a thousand or two armored fighting vehicles that require repairs and have not been in use for a long time,” Kovalenko believes.

(C)UNIAN 2024