On Wednesday, the White House shared that it had received intelligence showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin had exchanged letters with one another.
The letters come as Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu recently visited Pyongyang, pleading with North Korean officials to increase the sale of munitions in Moscow to aid the war in Ukraine.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby shared the details of the letters while speaking with reporters, sharing that Russia is looking for artillery shells and other basic material to help its defense industrial base.
Kirby said the letters were “more at the surface level,” but that talks between the two countries on weapons sales were intensifying. The letters were sent after Shoigu’s visit to North Korea’s capital.
When asked how the U.S. had learned of the letters, Kirby declined to answer.
The news comes on the heels of several major advancements in Russia, including the death of the country’s top mercenary group’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Last week, Prigozhin was aboard a private plane that had a fiery crash near Moscow, and he was later confirmed to be dead in the wreckage.
Prigozhin made headlines this summer for his aborted rebellion after making public and critical comments about Russia’s war in Ukraine.
To hear more about Prigozhin’s death and what this means for his Wagner Group and the war in Ukraine, listen to The On Deadline Podcast here or wherever you get your podcasts.