Russia, Ukraine both having to import war supplies

 Telegraph:

Russia’s defence minister is in North Korea to secure weapons, Anthony Blinken, the US secretary of state has said.

Sergei Shoigu was this week given a personal tour of Pyongyang’s weaponry by Kim Jong-un in the first trip by Moscow’s top defence official since the break-up of the Soviet Union.

The rare visit to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Korean war armistice saw Mr Shoigu pledge to boost military ties, as he praised the North Korean military as the “most powerful” in the world.

In reference to Mr Shoigu’s visit, Mr Blinken said: “I strongly doubt he’s there on holiday,” adding, “we’re seeing Russia desperately looking for support, for weapons, wherever it can find them to continue to prosecute its aggression against Ukraine.”

“We see that in North Korea, we see that as well with Iran, which has provided many drones to Russia that it’s using to destroy civilian infrastructure and kill civilians in Ukraine.”
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Iran has also been supplying Ukraine. 

A sharp-eyed OSINT (Open-source intelligence) specialist has made that intriguing discovery that the Ukrainian military is currently shelling Russian invasion forces with Iranian-made 122-mm shells produced in 2023.

The OSINT specialist, nicknamed War Noir (@war_noir), posted a photo on Twitter showing shells inscribed with messages from Ukrainian gunners to their Russian enemies. However, the shells also showed lot numbers and the year of manufacture– 2023.

All the same, this is not the first time Ukrainian gunners have been seen with Iranian-made munitions: In September 2022, the Ukraine Weapons Tracker OSINT project on Twitter showed a video of OF-462 high-explosive fragmentation projectiles from Iran, which it claims were used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

It is not known how the shells made in Iran got to Ukraine. One Twitter user responding to War Noir suggested they had been confiscated by the U.S. military from Iranian ships that had been carrying the shells to the war-torn Middle-Eastern state of Yemen.

Earlier, UK newspaper the Financial Times wrote that the Ukrainian Armed Forces were using ammunition from North Korea, manufactured in the DPRK in the 1980s and 1990s, at the front.
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Both sides of the Russian-Ukraine war have exhausted their domestic supply of ammo in the heavy exchanges of artillery fire.  I suspect they are searching the world for resupplies and Iran and the Norks appear willing to sell.  I think the US has also supplied material to Ukraine.  That Russia is unable to supply its own weapons is somewhat surprising.  It is an indicator of not only how much the war has consumed, but also of the shrinking ability of Russian industry to supply its own military.

See, also:

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The Kraken special unit spotted a group of enemy UAV operators during aerial reconnaissance in the Bakhmut area. Subsequently, the group was effectively targeted and destroyed by employing an explosive device released from an FPV strike drone.

"After that, the group was destroyed by dropping an explosive device from an FPV bomber," the post said.
...

And:

 In repeat bombing of Odessa, Putin deepens economic war on Ukraine

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Like many of the farmers who live near Odessa, one of Ukraine's major port cities, Lazarova is convinced that Moscow's attacks on the port and its agriculture sector are aimed at extracting maximum pain following Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to terminate a United Nations-brokered deal allowing grain exports from the Black Sea.

"They're sick! They are doing it on purpose!" she said, nursing a bandage on her arm as she stood among twisted scraps of metal strewn about the nearby homes.

Odessa's grain industry suffered tens of millions of dollars in damage as a result of the near-nightly Russian airstrikes. The attacks destroyed at least 60,000 tons of grain, enough to feed more than 270,000 people for a year, according to the U.N. World Food Program.

Follow-on attacks Monday targeted grain warehouses along the Danube River - a key alternative route for exports following the collapse of the Black Sea deal - and appeared to be aimed at crippling the country's entire agricultural industry, which accounted for about 20 percent of Ukraine's economy before Russia's invasion.
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And:

 Russians surround Crimean bridge with special floating barriers in attempt to ward off more attacks

Fearing more attacks on the Crimean bridge, the Russian military is deploying floating “anti-sabotage booms” next to the illegal structure, which connects Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Crimea with Russia.

Russian Telegram channel Mash posted a picture apparently showing the assembly of a section of the boom, which resembles ribbed piping. The “pipe” additionally has on top of it a “fence” of vertical metal rods, reinforced with a crosspiece. The barriers are designed to protect against surface and underwater drones, Mash wrote.
...

And:

 Ukrainian special forces training in UK prepare to liberate Crimea this year

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The Sunday Express reported that over 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers had arrived at a remote location in Dartmoor, England, to take part in special training.

Sources told the Sunday Express that those soldiers will spearhead the operation to liberate Crimea while two other forces – unnamed in the report – will undertake attacks at the same time.

The operation is to include airstrikes and attacks from both land and sea, with Ukrainian forces deploying equipment to undermine and paralyse the Russian troops. Meanwhile, armoured vehicles and tanks will carry out assaults in other locations.
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And:

 How Russia is evading sanctions to keep $10 billion worth of seized Boeing and Airbus planes flying

And:

 British Ambassador reveals reasons behind Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian children

And:

 Around 60 German citizens accused of extremism left for Ukraine, 39 joined war — on both sides