Ukraine's Air Force cannot yet say for certain that Russia has used North Korean ballistic missiles in attacks on Ukraine, Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said on national television on Jan. 5.
U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Jan. 4 that Russia has already used ballistic missiles supplied by North Korea to attack Ukraine, building upon statements by unnamed U.S. officials to the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal that North Korea had begun providing Russia with missiles and launchers.
Ihnat said the confirmation that the missiles originated from North Korea came from the U.S., but that Ukrainian specialists are yet to study the fragments and identify if they can be definitively traced to North Korea.
Many weapons in North Korea's arsenal date back to the Soviet era, and can be indistinguishable from those that Russia possesses, he added.
Washington confirmed increased weapons and ammunition transfers from North Korea to Russia following a meeting between Russian leader Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in September.
South Korean intelligence reports claim that North Korea has delivered more than a million shells to Russia.
According to Kirby, at least one North Korean-provided missile landed in an open field in Zaporizhzhia Oblast on Dec. 30.
Russia also used multiple North Korean missiles to strike Ukraine on Jan. 2, Kirby said, including as part of its overnight mass attack that killed five people and injured 130 more.
Katie Marie Davies
