Jan. 5, Reuters A top source in Kiev confirmed on Friday that Russia had launched missiles into Ukraine during its invasion, confirming a claim made earlier by the US White House. The missiles were provided by North Korea.
The governor of Kharkiv’s northeastern region made the announcement on social media site X after claiming that non-Russian missiles fired by Russia had damaged his area.
Senior Kyiv official Mykhailo Podolyak declared, “There is no longer any disguise… as part of its outright genocidal war, the Russian Federation struck at the territory of Ukraine for the first time with missiles received from… North Korea.”
He offered no proof that the rockets were made in North Korea. Washington used intelligence that had been declassified in its announcement on Thursday.
“(Russia) is attacking Ukrainians with missiles received from a state where citizens are tortured in concentration camps for having an unregistered radio, talking to a tourist, watching TV shows,” Podolyak stated.
When asked about the claim made by the United States that Russia had fired short-range ballistic missiles at Ukraine that were provided by North Korea, the Kremlin remained silent.
The regional governor of Kharkiv had earlier on Friday said that at the end of December and the start of January, missiles made outside of Russia had been shot into the province.
The aftermath of a Russian airstrike on Kharkiv, the regional capital, was captured on camera by a Reuters camera operator on January 2. The hit occurred near the city center, leaving a deep crater and missile debris in its wake.
Joost Oliemans, a Dutch scholar and expert on North Korea’s military, said the missile remnants appeared to be from North Korea after being shown the Reuters film for inspection.
“It (the footage) appears to show the main body as well as the engine section of a missile that is pretty much a dead match for a North Korean type of missile that we’ve actually seen pretty clear photos of in the past few years,” he stated.
Regional prosecutors in Kharkiv announced on Tuesday that they were looking into the nation of origin of three missiles that Russia used to strike the provincial capital. North Korea was not mentioned in their statement.
According to the prosecutor’s office, that attack on Kharkiv city left two persons dead and sixty-two injured.
The air force of Ukraine stated earlier on Friday that it was still unable to confirm the nation of manufacture of the disputed missiles.
The United States, through its spokesman John Kirby, stated that Pyongyang had sent missiles to Russia, though he would not specify what kind of missiles Pyongyang had sent (550 km). In a graphic he posted, KN-23 and KN-25 short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) were depicted.
Since it conducted its first nuclear bomb test in 2006, North Korea has been subject to an arms embargo by the UN.
Resolutions passed by the U.N. Security Council, backed by Russia, forbid nations from exchanging armaments or other military hardware with North Korea.
Authorities in South Korea claimed in November that North Korea might have given Russia SRBMs as part of a wider arms sale that also included rifles, artillery and mortar ammunition, anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles.
Although both Moscow and Pyongyang have previously denied carrying out any arms sales, they committed last year to strengthening their military ties.