Ukraine's struggle: Russian missiles fueled by Western parts
Ukraine is grappling with a wave of Russian missile attacks. CNN reports that one-third of the strikes use North Korean missiles containing Western components.
24 November 2024 09:12
According to CNN, one-third of these attacks are based on KN-23 missiles, which can fly thanks to Western components, despite prevailing sanctions.
In 2024, Russia launched about 60 North Korean KN-23 missiles at Ukraine, representing nearly one-third of all 194 ballistic missiles used this year.
The key components of these missiles come from nine Western manufacturers, including the USA, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Some parts of the KN-23 missiles that experts analyzed were manufactured in 2023, indicating a rapid delivery of components to North Korea, notes CNN.
"Everything that works to guide the missile, to make it fly, is all foreign components. All the electronics are foreign. There is nothing Korean in it," said Andriy Kulchytskyi, head of the Military Research Laboratory of the Kyiv Research and Forensic Examination Institute, to CNN. “The only thing Korean is the metal, which quickly rusts and corrodes," he added.
How do components get to North Korea?
A report published earlier this year by the British investigative organization Conflict Armament Research (CAR) showed that 75% of the components in one of the early missiles came from the USA.
Experts suggest that components reach North Korea through China.
“We have successfully traced some of those components, and the last known custodians are Chinese companies,” said Damien Spleeters from CAR.
