Missile used by Russia to hit Kharkiv may originate from North Korea – photo, video

The surviving tail section of a missile that Russia may have received from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is being examined in the city of Kharkiv. Visually, it resembles a Russian Iskander missile, but there are some technical differences.

Source: Ukrinform news outlet, citing Dmytro Chubenko, spokesman for the Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor's Office

Details: Chubenko released footage of wreckage of a missile that the Russians fired on Kharkiv between 29 December and 2 January, namely the remains of a missile that hit the city centre near Freedom Square.

Quote: "Huge parts of the missile, including the tail section, survived the strike, allowing us to identify it as an atypical Iskander missile. I can't say at the moment what kind of missiles were used – whether they were the same (as during other recent strikes – ed.) or not – because small parts were left from the other hits, which makes it impossible to distinguish whether it was an Iskander or something very similar. We are conducting expert examinations."

More details: Chubenko noted that there have been no previous cases of the Russians trying to conceal the markings on missiles used to attack Kharkiv Oblast.

"The attempt to erase the numbers on certain parts indicates a desire to hide information about this missile. Moreover, we can see that the inscriptions inside the missile are not particularly neat, but rather scattered. As a rule, such missiles, made in the Soviet Union and Russia, have very neat inscriptions, with everything done with great care, and sometimes even the names of the factory workers are put to mark who did what. There are no such signs here. And the inscriptions, numbers, and abbreviations are of different types," Chubenko explained.

The official added it is not just the missile’s quality that has caused the experts to have doubts: there are also technical differences.

"This missile is slightly bigger than an Iskander, by just 10 mm in diameter. It differs internally: the wiring is different, as the Iskander has electronic warfare protection and special guidance. There is none here; the wires just go inside the missile," Chubenko said.

There are other technical differences. However, experts cannot say for sure that this is a North Korean-made missile. The prosecutor's office believes that either Russia has switched to more careless missile production, or it could be a missile made by a different country.

Quote: "Based on the information available on the internet, photos from North Korean parades, the nozzles and the rear of this missile – it looks very similar. And indeed, the North Korean missile was based on the Iskander. That's why we are inclined to believe that this may be a missile provided by North Korea. But I would like to point out that there is currently no direct evidence to say that North Korea or any other country supplied it."

Previously: John Kirby, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, noted that the United States had evidence that Russia had received ballistic missiles from North Korea and launched them on Ukraine, and that Moscow and Tehran were negotiating on similar weapons, as has been reported in the media.

Reports have suggested that the United States is preparing additional sanctions against individuals involved in the transfer of military assistance to Russia from North Korea and Iran, including ballistic missiles.

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