North Korean Missile Used In Deadly Russian Attack On Kiev, Ukraine Claims

A Ukrainian official speaking to Reuters Thursday has claimed that the missile that killed at least nine people in a major Russian aerial attack on Kiev overnight was a North Korean KN-23 (KN-23A) ballistic missile.

A residential building, factory, and cars were set on fire in the wake of the attack, which included a number of missiles and drones. Emergency crews were digging through rubble looking for victims throughout Thursday. At least one building was simply obliterated, suffering a direct hit by a powerful warhead. 

Anton Gerashchenko, a former adviser to Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, offered as ‘proof’ footage which shows a fast-moving, large missile falling on the city. However, it remains anything but clear from the video precisely what kind of missile it was, much less who produced it.

Kyiv last night during a combined Russian attack.

Reuters reports that a North Korean KN-23 ballistic missile hit the residential building in Kyiv, citing its own sources. https://t.co/28TlH03X3E pic.twitter.com/D3jxURielQ

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) April 24, 2025

“The weapon that killed at least eight people in a major Russian aerial attack on Kyiv overnight was a North Korean KN-23 (KN-23A) ballistic missile, a Ukrainian military source told Reuters on Thursday,” Reuters cited.

“The missile struck a residential building in the Sviatoshynskyi district west of Kyiv’s center,” the unnamed source described. While it’s anything but clear from mere video or photographic evidence what kind of missiles were use on Kiev overnight, Russia and North Korea’s deepening defense relations have been on full display since last summer.

Not only has Pyongyang sent some 10,000 of its troops to help liberate Kursk region, but huge amounts of artillery ammo has reportedly been shipped, based on a 2024 treaty.

And last year the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) produced a report which said, “Analysis confirms that Russia used ballistic missiles produced in North Korea in its war against Ukraine. North Korean missile debris was found throughout Ukraine, according to an unclassified report released today by the Defense Intelligence Agency.”

“Through careful analysis of open-source imagery, DIA analysts confirms the debris found in Kharkiv on Jan. 2, 2024 is missile debris from a DPRK short-range missile,” the DIA continued in May of 2024. “The report provides a comparative analysis of publicly available images of North Korean missile debris and known North Korean missiles. The report shows that the missile debris in Ukraine is almost certainly of a North Korean ballistic missile.”

BBC has picked up on the allegations that a North Korean missile was used to attack a European capital:

BBC News: “according to the Reuters news agency, the missile that killed at least 8 people in that aerial attack on Kyiv was a North Korean ballistic missile”

Are you going to start reporting the origin of all the bombs & missiles that Israel uses to kill Palestinians in Gaza? pic.twitter.com/upciY6pAdd

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) April 24, 2025

So US intelligence has strongly suggested that it is indeed possible Russia is using North Korean-made ballistic missiles on the Ukrainian capital. Zelensky has meanwhile used this information to say that there is an ‘axis’ of hostile forces and enemies of the West warring against Ukraine.