Almost half of North Korean missiles launched by Russia at Ukraine exploded in the air – Reuters

Ukraine has examined the debris of North Korean ballistic missiles fired by Russia at its territory and found that about half of the missiles lost their programmed trajectories and exploded in midair, according to a written response from the Office of the Prosecutor General to a request from Reuters.

Ukrainian specialists examined 21 of the 50 North Korean ballistic missiles fired by Russia at the country's territory from late December 2023 to late February 2024.

"About half of the North Korean missiles lost their programmed trajectories and exploded in the air; in such cases, the debris was not recovered," the office of Ukraine's chief prosecutor said.

The investigation aims to assess the threat to Ukraine from the cooperation of Moscow and Pyongyang, the office said.

In addition to Kyiv and its suburbs, debris from North Korean missiles was found in the oblasts of Kharkiv, Poltava, Donetsk, and Kirovohrad.

When debris from North Korean KN-23 missiles could not be collected at the crash sites, the targets were identified by flight trajectories, speed, and launch sites.

The last recorded use of KN-23 missiles was on February 27.

The prosecutor's office added that since the beginning of the use of Russian missiles with North Korean components in Ukraine, a total of 24 people have died and another 115 have been injured.

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