Investigators from the kyiv Institute of Scientific Research and Forensic Expertise examine debris from KN-23 missiles used by Russia to attack Ukraine. Photo: CNN

Ukraine is attacked by North Korean missiles which could be equipped with Western components.

Source: CNN cite sources

Details: The report said that about a third of the missiles Russia used to attack Ukraine were North Korean and equipped with Western components obtained in violation of sanctions.

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A representative of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that this year Russia used about 60 North Korean KN-23 missiles against Ukraine. CNN estimates that represents nearly a third of the 194 ballistic missiles fired.

August and September saw an increase in ballistic missile attacks when Ukraine first publicly revealed the use of the KN-23.

CNN adds that Ukrainian officials have since given them access to fragments of weapons debris that show the apparent extent of American and European circuits in their guidance systems.

A recent report by the Independent Anti-Corruption Commission of Ukraine (NAKO) says that nine Western manufacturers, including companies from the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, produce critical components used in North Korea’s missiles. Koreans. Some of the analyzed parts of the KN-23/24 missiles were manufactured as early as 2023, indicating that they were being delivered to North Korea at a rapid pace.

CNN saw one of the warehouses where Ukrainian investigators are analyzing debris, looking for small details indicating the origin of the weapons.

The warehouse was filled with damaged drones and charred missile parts, and hundreds of electronic chips were stored in different buildings, carefully sorted by weapon type: Shahed drones, Iskander missiles, and KN-23 missiles.

“Everything that guides the missile, makes it fly, is made of foreign components. All the electronics are foreign. There is nothing Korean in it,” said Andrii Kulchytskyi, head of the military research laboratory. from the Kiev Scientific Research Institute. Skill.

“The only Korean thing is metal, which rusts and corrodes quickly,” he added.

A representative of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (DIU), speaking on condition of anonymity, said their investigations appear complicated by damage to the missile fragments, but that it is still possible to determine that “the The vast majority of components are Western components. 70% are probably American, from well-known companies… They also use components made in Germany and Switzerland.

A report released earlier this year by the British investigative organization Conflict Armament Research (CAR) found that 75% of the components of one of the first North Korean missiles used to attack Ukraine were made by companies based in the United States.

Weapons tracing experts say there is no reliable information on how the components get to North Korea. But everything indicates that China is a likely supply channel, experts say.

“We have managed to trace some of these components, and the last known custodians are Chinese companies,” said Damien Spleeters, deputy director of operations for the RCA, which independently documents diverted weapons. This means that Chinese companies purchased components from manufacturers and a number of intermediaries.

CAR and others say the main problem is with the intermediary companies, not the manufacturers.

There are more than 250 companies whose components have been discovered in North Korean missiles. However, five major distributors based in the United States and Canada sell most of these electronic devices.

The US Commerce Department has already tightened controls on companies and front companies that supply sanctioned products to Russia and Belarus.

Ukrainian officials say one of the main problems is poor compliance with sanctions by Western countries.

Vladyslav Vlasiuk, Ukrainian Presidential Commissioner for Sanctions Policy, expressed hope that the new administration of US President-elect Donald Trump will try to strengthen control over illegal trade.

“No manufacturer has yet been held responsible for these supplies. We believe that if any of these manufacturers were held responsible for the amount of microelectronics found, for example, in Russian missiles hitting Ukraine, (they) would would actually, really start doing more in that regard,” Vlasiuk told CNN.

This echoes the views of the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which earlier this year criticized US manufacturers for not doing enough to vet potential buyers, even though they had “resources, funding and sufficient knowledge.

The unnamed DIU official said the diversion of components to Iran and directly to Russia also continued.

“Russia uses Western components in the entire segment of lethal weapons and reconnaissance drones,” the DIU source told CNN, noting that the downing of one of Russia’s heavy drones, the Okhotnik, showed that It was mainly composed of American components. “We also need to do the appropriate work to close these supply channels,” he said.

Background:

• Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrei Sybiha called on allies to strengthen sanctions and export controls after the discovery of freshly manufactured Western components in a North Korean missile shot down in Ukraine.
• Western intelligence believes that half of the approximately 3 million artillery shells used each year by Russia come from North Korea.
• Evidence of new deliveries of North Korean ballistic missiles to Moscow also emerged in September.

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