Tel Aviv: Russia attacked Ukraine with a North Korean ballistic missile for the first time since last year, Ukrainian authorities said on Thursday, August 13, shortly after Kyiv warned of a new wave of DPRK troop deployments and transfers of North Korean ballistic missile launchers to Russia.
Israeli sources said that these North Korean missiles may find their way to some Iranian proxies in the Middle East and Gulf.
North Korea has primarily sent short-range solid-fuel tactical ballistic missiles to Russia, specifically the KN-23and KN-24. The KN-23 is a short-range ballistic missile with a range of 300 to 400 miles and a heavy warhead (roughly 500 kg to 1 ton), often compared to the Russian Iskander-M. The KN-24 is a smaller tactical ballistic missile with an approximate 250-mile range, fired from a multiple-launch system and compared functionally to US ATACMS.
North Korea has supplied 140–150 of these tactical ballistic missiles to support Russian military strikes. Deployed by Russian forces against targets in Ukraine, with debris analysis indicating they utilise foreign-sourced electronic components.
One of the Russian missiles that was launched late on Thursday, according to NATO, penetrated Polish airspace and crashed into an eastern Polish field, not far from the location where Zelensky had visited Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk the day before.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
