Russia has fired North Korean missiles at Ukraine for first time, Kyiv official confirms

Statement corroborates US assertion and comes after Kharkiv’s governor said Russia had struck his region with missiles that were not Russian-made

UN Security Council resolutions – approved with Russian support – ban countries from trading weapons or other military equipment with North Korea

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Firefighters work to suppress a fire at a pipeline in Ukraine’s Podilskyi district caused by falling rocket debris as a result of a Russian missile attack. Photo: Ukrinform / dpa

Published: 3:57am, 6 Jan 2024Updated: 5:00am, 6 Jan 2024

Russia has hit Ukraine with missiles supplied by North Korea for the first time during its invasion, a senior Kyiv official said on Friday, corroborating an earlier assertion by the US White House.

The statement on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, came after the governor of the northeastern region of Kharkiv said his region had been struck by missiles fired by Russia that were not Russian-made.

“There is no longer any disguise … as part of its outright genocidal war, the Russian Federation for the first time struck at the territory of Ukraine with missiles received from … North Korea,” the senior Kyiv official, Mykhailo Podolyak, said.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak. Photo: AP

Podolyak did not provide evidence for the missiles being North Korean. In its statement on Thursday, Washington cited declassified intelligence.

“[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 television shows,” Podolyak said.

The Kremlin did not respond to a request for comment on the United States’ assertion that Russia had fired North Korean-supplied short-range ballistic missiles at Ukraine.

Earlier on Friday, the Kharkiv regional governor said missiles produced outside Russia had been fired into the province at the end of December and the beginning of January.

A Reuters video operator filmed the aftermath of a Russian air strike on the regional capital of Kharkiv on January 2, in which a missile landed close to the city centre, leaving behind a deep crater and missile debris.