North Korea is covertly supplying a "significant number" of artillery shells to Russia for use in Ukraine, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday.
Kirby said North Korea is trying to obscure the destination of the shipments by funneling them through countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
"Our indications are that the DPRK is covertly supplying and we are going to monitor to see whether the shipments are received," Kirby said.
"It is not an insignificant number of shells, but we don't believe they are in such a quantity that they would change the momentum of the war," he added.
In September, North Korea denied U.S. intelligence reports that it supplied weapons to Russia and said it had no plans to do so. The New York Times reported at the time that Russia was buying millions of artillery shells and rockets from North Korea.
Kirby’s announcement came amid a period of heightened tensions between North and South Korea.
North Korea fired more than 20 ballistic missiles Wednesday, a record, sending residents of a South Korean island to underground shelters.
The exchange marked the latest significant escalation between the two neighbors after months of provocations from Pyongyang.
