Voice of Ukraine

Washington and Kyiv claim Moscow turning to other states under sanctions to sustain its war effort

From: The Guardian by Julian Borger in Washington, Andrew Roth and agencies

Russia has started using ballistic missiles supplied by North Korea to attack Ukraine, Washington and Kyiv have claimed, in an indication that Moscow plans to further expand its arms deals with regimes under sanctions in order to sustain its war effort.

Washington also alleged Russia was in talks with Iran to buy short-range ballistic missiles. The US intelligence assessment is that Iranian missiles have not yet arrived in Russia, but that the deal will eventually be done.

The US reports were endorsed by several Ukrainian officials, including an adviser to Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s administration, who said that Russian arms deals with Pyongyang and Tehran made the country part of a new “axis of evil of the [21st] century”.

John Kirby, the US’s national security council spokesperson, said on Thursday that Russia fired a North Korean ballistic missile into Ukraine on 30 December but that it landed in an open field. However, Kirby said Russian forces had launched more such missiles as part of a large salvo on 2 January, and their impact had yet to be assessed.

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