(Washington) Russia is using North Korean ballistic missiles in Ukraine, says a new Pentagon report that used debris analysis to confirm long-standing accusations that Moscow is receiving weapons from from Pyongyang.
The US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) used open source imagery to confirm that debris found in January in the Kharkiv region of northwestern Ukraine, came from a short-range ballistic missile produced in North Korea.
The DIA compared images broadcast by North Korean state media with photographs of these missile fragments discovered in Ukraine.
“The analysis confirms that Russia is using ballistic missiles produced in North Korea in its war against Ukraine,” the American agency said in a press release released Wednesday with the report in question.
“North Korean missile debris was found across Ukraine,” according to the same source.
Seoul accuses Pyongyang of having transported thousands of weapons containers to Russia in defiance of United Nations sanctions targeting the two countries: Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and North Korea for its nuclear program.
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and one of the government’s top spokespeople, refuted the accusations as “absurd” in May, saying Pyongyang had “no intention to export its military technical capabilities to any country whatsoever.
Experts say North Korea’s recent series of tests, including cruise missiles and other ballistic projectiles, could be linked to the shipment of weapons to Russian troops in Ukraine.
The South Korean Defense Ministry told AFP that it had no comment to make on the report.
Pyongyang and Moscow have strengthened their ties in recent months.
Kim Jong-un made a rare trip abroad, traveling to Russia in 2023 for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. A visit by the Russian leader to North Korea is in preparation, the Kremlin told Russian media in May.
In March, Moscow vetoed the UN Security Council to dissolve the UN sanctions monitoring system against Pyongyang.