The War&Sanctions portal has published a list of foreign-made components discovered in North Korean ballistic missiles KN-23/KN-24. At least one of these—a voltage converter marked by the British manufacturer XP Power—was produced in February 2023, well after the full-scale invasion began.
This information was reported by the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine on Telegram.
“To obtain technologies for their weapons programs, the aggressor state Russia and its allies—North Korea and Iran—use shared schemes to bypass international sanctions,” the report stated.
According to Defense Intelligence, Russia has received over 100 such missiles from North Korea. The Russian forces first used this weapon against Ukraine in late 2023. Along with the missiles, Pyongyang sent its military specialists to Russia, who serviced the launchers and directly participated in war crimes against Ukraine.
KN-23/KN-24 missile strikes have repeatedly targeted Ukrainian civilians, both in frontline communities and towns far from the combat zone, intelligence officials noted.
For example, on January 2, 2024, a North Korean missile struck a Kyiv apartment building, killing four people. On August 11, 2024, in the Kyiv region, fragments of KN-23/KN-24 killed a four-year-old boy and his father, while injuring three others.
The KN-23/KN-24 missiles used by Russia against Ukraine contained foreign components manufactured by companies from five countries: China, the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland, according to Defense Intelligence Agency.
