Ukrainian state prosecutors have examined debris from approximately half of the 50 North Korean ballistic missiles launched by Russia beginning last December.
Ukrainian state prosecutors say they have examined debris from 21 of around 50 North Korean ballistic missiles launched by Russia between late December and late February, as they seek to assess the threat from Moscow's cooperation with Pyongyang. In previously unreported details of an investigation under way into the missiles, the office of Ukraine's top prosecutor, Andriy Kostin, also told Reuters that the failure rate of the North Korean weaponry appeared to be high.
North Korean missiles account for a tiny portion of Russia's strikes during its war on Ukraine, but their alleged use has caused alarm from Seoul to Washington because it may herald the end of nearly two-decade consensus among permanent members of the United Nations Security Council on preventing Pyongyang expanding its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
Days before its mandate expired, the panel submitted a report confirming for the first time that, in a violation of U.N. sanctions, a North Korean-made ballistic missile known as Hwasong-11 had struck the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. This, and Moscow's veto, underscore how Russia and North Korea have intensified their bilateral relations beyond largely transactional, barter agreements, said Edward Howell, an expert on North Korea at Oxford University.
Despite the setback at the United Nations, Kostin has said his office will carry on with the investigation. The prosecutor's office said that when debris could not be collected at impact sites, Hwasong-11 missiles, which are also called KN-23 in the West, were identified by looking at their flight trajectories, speed and launch sites. The last recorded use of a KN-23 was on Feb.
The 21 cases, in which debris was collected, include three that were fired at the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and its surrounding region, Kostin's office said. The others struck the regions of Kharkiv, Poltava, Donetsk and Kirovohrad. The attacks, which began on Dec. 30, 2023, killed 24 people, wounded 115 and damaged a number of residential buildings and industrial facilities, it said.
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