Ukraine has identified missiles that were fired into its eastern region by Russia earlier this month as North Korean-made, a Ukrainian official said Thursday, providing evidence of Pyongyang's military support for Moscow.
A research institute of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry collected and analyzed missile debris from a Russian bombardment of the city of Kharkiv on Jan. 2 and found it matches North Korea's KN-23 short-range ballistic missiles, according to the official.
It is the first time Kyiv has confirmed the use of North Korean missiles since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, in the latest sign that Moscow's weapons stocks are running short.
"North Korea is the only nation in the world that is making missiles which have the same characteristics as those we have found from the wreckage, so we have concluded that they are definitely KN-23s," the Ukrainian official said.
The U.S. government said last week Russia had fired North Korean ballistic missiles into Ukraine in late December and earlier this month.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington is imposing sanctions on three Russian groups and an individual over the procurement of North Korean missiles.
On Wednesday, the foreign ministers of 48 countries and the European Union issued a joint statement condemning the missile transfer from North Korea to Russia for violating U.N. Security Council resolutions and undermining the global nonproliferation regime.
Pyongyang and Moscow have accused Washington of making a baseless allegation, with Vassily Nebenzia, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, denying during a U.N. Security Council meeting on Wednesday that North Korean missiles had been used against Ukraine.
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