KYIV — Ukraine accused Russia on Tuesday of using North Korean ballistic missiles in a deadly overnight attack, as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Moscow was receiving additional weapons from Pyongyang and warned that the cooperation was intensifying.
Zelenskiy said Russia used North Korean missiles in strikes against Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia, alongside other weapons, according to his evening address. Ukrainian officials said the attacks killed at least 10 people across the country and wounded dozens.
The heaviest casualties were reported in Zaporizhzhia, where seven workers at a steel plant were killed and 21 injured, Ukrainian officials said. Three other people, including a 15-year-old boy, were killed in attacks in the Dnipropetrovsk region, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Zelenskiy said the missile attacks were launched from several Russian regions and that North Korean ballistic missiles had been used again. His comments were not independently verified.
Russia did not immediately comment on the specific accusation that North Korean missiles were used in Tuesday's strikes.
Ukraine has previously identified wreckage from Russian strikes as North Korean-made KN-23 and KN-24 ballistic missiles. Western governments have also accused Pyongyang of supplying ballistic missiles to Moscow for use in the war, in breach of U.N. sanctions prohibiting North Korea's ballistic missile-related trade.
Reuters reported last week that a North Korean missile unit was deploying to Russia's Voronezh region and could eventually be equipped with as many as 120 ballistic missiles and six launchers, according to a Ukrainian military intelligence official. Kyiv said a new batch of 40 KN-23 and KN-24 missiles had already been delivered to Russia.
A Reuters report published on Aug. 6 said two North Korean missiles had been used in a recent deadly strike on Ukraine. Ukraine has also said Russia has increased its reliance on ballistic missiles as its air-defense stocks come under pressure.
The growing military relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang has expanded since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. North Korea has provided Russia with artillery ammunition, missiles and troops, while Moscow and Pyongyang have deepened military cooperation under a 2024 treaty.
Zelenskiy said on Monday that Russia had received additional North Korean ballistic missiles and was preparing to receive more North Korean personnel. He urged international partners to respond to what he described as a widening military partnership.
The latest attacks came as Russia and Ukraine continued long-range strikes and diplomatic efforts to end the war remained unresolved.
