Russia is using North Korean ballistic missiles in Ukraine, a new Pentagon report says, citing debris analysis to confirm long- standing allegations that Pyongyang has been sending weapons to Moscow. The report by the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency used open-source imagery to confirm that debris found in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region in January this year is from a short-range ballistic missile made in North Korea. “Analysis confirms that Russia used ballistic missiles produced in North Korea in its war against Ukraine,” the DIA said in a statement released with the report.  “North Korean missile debris was found throughout Ukraine,” it added. South Korea accuses Pyongyang of sending thousands of containers of munitions to Russia, which would violate rafts of United Nations sanctions on both countries.

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this month denied the allegations that Pyongyang is shipping weapons to Russia, calling the claim “absurd”. Pyongyang has “no intention to export our military technical capabilities to any country,” Kim Yo Jong said. But experts maintain that a recent testing spree — which has seen the North repeatedly fire off rockets, cruise and ballistic missiles — may be of weapons destined for use on battlefields in Ukraine. The DIA report compares images in North Korean state media to other photographs showing missile debris in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region in January.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan