Early evidence shows North Korea's ballistic missiles are back in the war, Zelenskyy says

Debris from a KN-23 missile in Ukraine in 2024. Kyodo News/Reuters Preliminary data shows that Russia used a North Korean missile in a deadly attack on Ukraine, marking the return of Pyongyang's ballistic weapons after a hiatus in the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday.The strike hit a family home in Radushne, a village in southeastern Ukraine, and killed at least six people — four children and their parents. The house was leveled by the missile strike, and four more children are missing, authorities said.Zelenskyy said the North Korean missile had been used by Russia "for the first time in a while," condemning Pyongyang's partnership with Moscow and blaming it for the deaths of Ukrainian children."Of course, more examinations will follow, and everything will be verified, but as of now — it is a North Korean ballistic missile," Zelenskyy said. Rescuers work at the site of houses hit by the missile attack in Radushne. REUTERS/Stringer Zelenskyy did not name the North Korean missile used, but Pyongyang has been supplying Russia with the KN-23 and KN-24, which are solid-fuel tactical short-range ballistic missiles.The KN-23 is often compared to Russia's Iskander 9M723 missile, with a range of 300 to 400 miles and a 500 kg warhead. The KN-24, meanwhile, is a smaller missile with a roughly 250-mile range fired from a multiple-launch rocket system, similar to the US-made ATACMS missile.Ukrainian intelligence reported in July 2025 that Russia still had an inventory of about 50 KN-23s. But their use has dwindled in recent months. Reuters reported on Thursday, citing an anonymous military source, that the last time the KN-23 was used in a Russian attack was in August 2025.Ukraine first said it encountered the North Korean missiles in January 2024, and later accused Pyongyang of supplying the Kremlin with 148 of the ballistic weapons.Local officials said at the time that the munitions were highly unreliable, with roughly half detonating midair before reaching their targets.In April, Ukraine's defense ministry said its forensic analysis showed that the KN-23 was manufactured using methods from 50 years ago, describing it as a poorer cousin to the Iskander-M, built on earlier versions of the latter missile.If a North Korean missile was used in Thursday's strike, it's unclear if the ballistic weapon was part of a new shipment sent by Pyongyang or if any of its features were improved.North Korea and Russia have strengthened their relationship as the war continues. Ukraine said earlier this month that it expects Pyongyang to send another 30,000 troops to bolster Russia's forces, after an initial 10,000 to 14,000 or so North Korean soldiers arrived in the fall of 2024.Zelenskyy followed up on reports of the strike by calling on the West to send Kyiv more air defense missiles, especially Patriot systems.Ukraine lacks an adequate supply of higher-end interceptors to counter Russia's growing use of ballistic missiles. On some nights, Moscow launches these missiles by the dozen alongside hundreds of long-range one-way attack drones."What matters most, however, is not mere sympathy and condemnation, but air defense missiles and pressure on Russia that can stop this dumb Russian war, all their strikes and their terror," Zelenskyy said.Amid Moscow's barrage on Thursday, Ukraine and NATO said a missile consistent with the Russian Kh-101 air-launched cruise missile had fallen about 60 miles inside Polish territory, leaving a 5-meter deep crater. Read next Matthew is a senior reporter at Business Insider's Singapore bureau, primarily covering defense and how the war in Ukraine is rapidly changing battle technology and tactics.He joined the team in June 2021, previously focusing on internet crime and labor, examining how these issues impact modern society in Asia, with a particular emphasis on China.In 2024, he won the Singapore Press Club's Young Journalist of the Year Award. His work from 2023 also won a silver award from the North American Travel Journalists Association and accolades from Longreads.Matthew's previous work has been featured in the South China Morning Post, as well as Singaporean news companies TODAY and The Business Times.As a student, Matthew's coverage of migrant workers' nutrition in Singapore during the COVID pandemic won the SOAP Story of the Month award and the Student Category prize in the International Labor Organization's 2021 Global Media Competition on Labour Migration.Selected features:Death on the Savage Mountain: What really happened on K2, and why 100 climbers stepped over a dying man on their way to the summitThe nuclear weapons era is making a comeback, and experts say we're all not paying attentionHow nets from a Danish fishing village found their way into Ukraine's modern warInside Ukraine's race to crank out unjammable, fiber-optic drones that can break through Russia's electronic warfareFinding Dora Ukraine War North Korea