Russia Produces 2 Million 122mm and 152mm Rounds in a Year
15 January, 2024 Production of 152mm projectiles in Russia. March 2023. Photo credits: newsler.ru
In 2023, the Russian defense industry produced 2 million rounds of 122mm and 152mm ammunition. This statement was made by Major General Vadym Skibitskyi, Deputy Chief of Defense Intelligence of Ukraine. The 122-mm and 152-mm ammunition are needed for Russian Soviet-era cannon artillery.
According to him, the Russians also transported rounds from Belarus, then bought them from Iran, and then received large batches from North Korea. Skibitskyi added that Ukraine knows which routes the rounds were transported on, which depots they are stored in, and how they are delivered to the front lines.
Vadym Skibitskyi. January 2024.
Photo credits: RBC-Ukraine
Moscow plans to increase ammunition production in 2024, but faces a number of problems related to a lack of spare parts, qualified personnel, and production facilities. "Our estimate is that the Russian Federation will have a deficit at the same level, 500,000 rounds of ammunition, and it will try to find them somewhere," said Skibitskyi. At the same time, North Korea actively supplied Russia with ammunition throughout the fall of 2023.
According to Ukrainian intelligence estimates, there are a million 122mm and 152mm artillery rounds.
North Korean152 mm artillery shell with NDT-3 propellant charge in service with the Russian army. October 2023. Photo credits: Ukraine Weapons Tracker
"This is exactly the deficit that Moscow has in shells and cannot cover with its own production," Skibitskyi said.
Answering a question about the North Korean supply of ballistic missiles to Moscow and their use in Ukraine, the representative of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine emphasized that relevant information is being collected.
Illustrative photo of the launch of the North Korean KN-23 ballistic missile.
Photo from open sources
As previously reported, on January 4, 2024, John Kirby, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, stated that Russia had acquired ballistic missiles from North Korea.
Russian troops used them during the last missile attack against Ukraine.