Desperate Putin 'Scrambling for Help' From Kim Jong Un: Ret. U.S. General

North Korea leader Kim Jong Un is purportedly planning to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin later this month to discuss supplying Moscow with additional weapons for its invasion of Ukraine, The New York Times reported Monday, citing American and other officials.

Putin is hoping to gain additional artillery shells and antitank missiles from Kim, while North Korea is in the market for improved satellite systems and nuclear-powered submarines, according to the report. Kim is also reportedly "seeking food aid for his impoverished nation."

The type of weapons that North Korea has to offer will likely not have a "great deal of significance" in Putin's war in Ukraine, however, according to Retired United States Army General Mark Hertling, who spoke with CNN's Jim Acosta later in the day.

"You opened this saying these are two of Washington's biggest rivals," Hertling told Acosta during Monday's edition of The Situation Room. "They're also two desperate leaders of the world's most noted pariah states."

"This will generate a lot of attention," Hertling added. "It's showing that Mr. Putin is scrambling for help."

Newsweek reached out to the Russian Foreign Ministry via email for comment.

Moscow has been isolated from much of the globe since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, thanks to sanctions backed by the United States and other Western allies that have also supplied billions of dollars worth of military aid to Kyiv. Putin at one point seemed to find a friend in China, although it appears that the loose allyship is already losing its strength.

Since launching its counteroffensive in June, Ukraine has also been slowly but steadily retaking Russian-occupied settlements along the frontlines, while the Kremlin has had to deal with additional morale issues among Moscow's troops.

"Russia is in a desperate situation right now," said retired Army Major General James A. "Spider" Marks, who joined Hertling on CNN.

"Additional weapons from North Korea to Russia [is] not surprising at all," Marks said. "They share the same type of caliber weapon systems. So it's an immediate plus-up. But again, this is not going to strategically alter the outcome of the fight in Ukraine."

Hertling added that the weaponry in Kim's stockpile "are large caliber artillery shells, not precision weapons, not the kind that you can point and hit a target within a 10-foot or 10-meter circular error."

"There's just a lot of quantity," Hertling said. "Now, quantity has a quality all of its own, don't get me wrong. But we have seen Ukrainian forces using precision weapons with great effects and they're knocking out a lot of Russian artillery pieces. It is turning the tide in the counter-firefight."

"I don't think personally from a military perspective that this is going to have a great deal of significance...on the Ukrainian battle," he said.