North Korean missile likely used in Russian strike that killed 6 family members in Ukraine, Zelensky says

Preliminary information indicates that a North Korean missile may have been used in a strike that killed at least six family members in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast during Moscow's mass attack on Ukraine on July 30, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

While North Korean missile have previously been used by in Russian attacks against Ukraine, the strikes marks the first such use in nearly a year. Military sources told Reuters that the last confirmed use occurred in August 2025.

Local media reported that six family members had been confirmed killed in the village of Radushne outside Kryvyi Rih as of 6 p.m. local time, while identification work continued. Zelensky previously identified two parents and three children as victims, as searches continue underneath the rubble of the home.

"Of course, more examinations will follow, and everything will be verified, but as of now – it is a North Korean ballistic missile," the president said in his evening address on July 30.

"The alliance between the Moscow scumbags and the deranged regime in North Korea exists for the sake of missiles, North Korean troops on our borders here in Europe, and killing our Ukrainian children," he added.

North Korea has become one of Russia's key military partners since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In addition to supplying ammunition and other weapons, Pyongyang has deployed troops to support Russian operations.

Ukraine has said around 12,000 North Korean soldiers participated in Russia's 2024 counteroffensive in Kursk Oblast aimed at pushing Ukrainian forces out of the region. Last week, Zelensky warned that as cooperation deepens, Pyongyang is preparing to send an additional 30,000 North Korean troops to support its war against Ukraine.

"Russia wants to receive another 30,000 troops from North Korea," Zelensky said on July 25. "Since June, preparations have been underway in Russia's Voronezh region to receive them."

The two authoritarian countries have steadily expanded cooperation as Russia has become increasingly isolated from the West over its war against Ukraine. In addition to military assistance, North Korea, alongside China and Iran, has been linked to economic activities in Russian-occupied Ukraine.

The latest large-scale Russian attack on Ukraine overnight on July 30 killed at least eight people, injured more than 50 others, and triggered air raid alerts in eastern Poland after what is believed to have been a Russian missile fell into a field in the Lublin region