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Russia has hit Ukraine with missiles supplied by North Korea for the first time during its invasion, Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said, corroborating an earlier assertion by Washington.
“There is no longer any disguise … as part of its outright genocidal war, the Russian Federation for the first time struck at the territory of Ukraine with missiles received from … North Korea,” Mr Podolyak wrote on social media.
Mr Podolyak did not provide evidence for the missiles being North Korean.
In its statement yesterday, Washington cited declassified intelligence.
“(Russia) is attacking Ukrainians with missiles received from a state where citizens are tortured in concentration camps for having an unregistered radio, talking to a tourist, watching TV shows,” Mr Podolyak said.
There was no immediate comment from Moscow.
Earlier, state media quoted the governor of the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv as saying missiles produced outside Russia had been fired into the province at the end of December and beginning of January.
Ukraine’s air force said it could not yet confirm the country of manufacture of the missiles in question.
Kharkiv region prosecutors said they were conducting an investigation into the country of origin of three missiles used by Russia to hit the provincial capital on Tuesday.
Their statement did not name North Korea.
That attack on Kharkiv city killed two people and wounded 62, the prosecutor’s office said.
While the United States would not say specifically what type of missiles Pyongyang had sent to Russia, US spokesman John Kirby said they had a range of about 900km.
He released a graphic that appeared to show KN-23 and KN-25 short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs).
North Korea has been under a United Nations arms embargo since it first tested a nuclear bomb in 2006.
UN Security Council resolutions – approved with Russian support – ban countries from trading weapons or other military equipment with North Korea.
In November, South Korean authorities said North Korea may have supplied SRBMs to Russia as part of a larger arms deal that also included anti-tank and anti-air missiles, artillery and mortar shells, and rifles.
Mr Kim travelled to Russia’s far east in September and met Russian President Vladimir Putin, sparking concern among Ukrainian allies over the possibility of a potential arms deal.
Tánaiste condemns ‘senseless war of aggression’
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has condemned Russia’s “senseless war of aggression against Ukraine”.
“In the past weeks, Russia has again launched a series of indiscriminate and brutal attacks on Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure,” Mr Martin said.
“Russia also continues its relentless ground assault on Ukraine, particularly around the devastated cities of Adviivka and Bakhmut.
“The international community, including Ireland, must remain firm in its resolve to support them.”
Russia offers to move citizens from Belgorod
Russian officials in the southern border city of Belgorod offered to evacuate worried residents, an unprecedented announcement that follows waves of fatal Ukrainian attacks.
The Kremlin has tried to maintain a semblance of normalcy on the home front, but the recent strikes on Belgorod have brought the Ukraine conflict closer to home for Russians.
Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov’s assurance that scared civilians can relocate represents the furthest-reaching measure taken by any major Russian city since Moscow ordered the invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago.
“I see several appeals on social media where people write: We are scared, help us get to a safe place,” Mr Gladkov said in a video message.
“Of course we will! We have already moved several families,” he added.
His offer came a day after overnight shelling wounded at least two people and knocked out glass from high-rise buildings, prompting widespread concern from residents.
The bout of shelling prompted city officials to urge residents to secure their windows with tape to prevent shattering from blast waves – a measure widespread across Ukraine.
Ukrainian shelling in Belgorod less than a week ago killed 25 people – the worst attack on Russian civilians since the conflict began.
UN access at Ukraine nuclear plant curbed for safety – Russia
Russia confirmed earlier it had blocked the UN’s nuclear watchdog from accessing parts of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia power plant, but said it was for safety reasons.
Officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have been on the ground monitoring the plant since September 2022, six months after it was captured by Moscow’s forces.
Responding to an IAEA statement saying their team had been blocked from reactor halls, Renat Karchaa, an official at Russia’s Rosatom, alleged they tried to access “containment shells”.
“A containment shell, and especially a sealed one, is not a museum or an area for free walks,” Karchaa told Russia’s RBC news outlet.
“While in ‘sealed’ mode, personnel access to the containment shells is prohibited and is only permitted with unambiguous justification and in emergency cases.”
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi had said in a statement on Wednesday that experts had not been allowed to access reactor halls in three of the plant’s units for two weeks.
He said the IAEA would continue to request access to the reactor halls, where the reactor core and spent fuel are located.
“The content of the latest statement gives us reason to assume that either Rafael Grossi was not informed fully enough, or the information was submitted by people with low professional training, which is hard to believe,” Mr Karchaa said.
The plant stopped supplying electricity to Ukraine’s grid in September 2022, and has been repeatedly rocked by shelling and drone attacks throughout the conflict.
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