Russia Used North Korean Missile in Kharkiv Attack, UN Confirms

Debris from a missile that targeted Kharkiv during a Russian strike on January 2, 2024, came from a North Korean Hwasong-11 series ballistic missile, according to a report submitted to the UN Security Council by the sanctions monitoring group.

UN experts concluded that the recovered North Korean missile debris is evidence of a violation of the arms embargo on North Korea.

According to the report, in April 2024, three representatives of the department went to Ukraine to inspect the debris and found no evidence that the missile could have been made in Russia; they were unable to “independently determine where and by whom the missile was launched,” as noted in the report, while the trajectory information provided by the Ukrainian authorities “indicates that it was launched from Russian territory.”

“Such a location, if the missile was under the control of Russian forces, probably indicates that it was acquired by Russian citizens,” the report says.

North Korea has been under UN Security Council sanctions since 2006 for its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile tests, which include a ban on the import and export of military technology.

In March, Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on the annual extension of the mandate of UN sanctions observers, which has been in effect for the past 15 years. The mandate of the current group of experts expires on Tuesday, April 30th.