Ukraine accuses Russia of launching North Korean missiles in deadly regional strikes
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of deploying North Korean ballistic missiles during a series of overnight attacks across Ukraine that left at least seven people dead in Zaporizhzhia.
Local officials in Zaporizhzhia reported that the strikes hit the city’s Zaporizhstal metallurgical plant with guided bombs and missiles, killing seven employees, injuring 24 others, and forcing the facility to suspend operations. The barrage was part of a broader aerial offensive involving 120 Russian drones and multiple missile launches that disrupted power supplies in Kharkiv and Kherson while damaging civilian infrastructure in Kyiv and Sumy.
In response, Ukrainian forces launched retaliatory deep-space strikes targeting critical Russian supply and industrial assets. Ukrainian drones struck facilities belonging to online retailer Wildberries in the Voronezh region, as well as a petrochemical plant in western Siberia. The long-range campaign follows a strike on the Tanevo oil refinery in Tatarstan, located over 680 miles inside Russian territory, which killed 13 people and injured dozens.
Zelensky warned that Moscow’s growing reliance on North Korean weaponry and troops presents a expanding international security threat. Western military intelligence previously noted that thousands of North Korean soldiers had been deployed to support Russian units in the Kursk region, where allied forces suffered heavy casualties during autumn combat.
