The prosecutor’s office of the Kharkiv region on Saturday provided further evidence that Russia attacked Ukraine with missiles supplied by North Korea, presenting shrapnel, Reuters reports.

North Korea has confirmed the presence of short-range ballistic missilesPhoto: Kim Jae-Hwan/SOPA Images/Shutterstock Editorial/Profimedia

An aide to President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said on Friday that Russia struck Ukraine this week with North Korean-supplied missiles, the first since the invasion.

Dmytro Chubenko, the spokesman of the Prosecutor General’s Office, said that the missile, one of those that hit the city of Kharkiv on January 2, was visually and technically different from Russian models.

“The production method is not very modern. There are deviations from the standard Iskander missiles, which we saw earlier during the shelling of Kharkiv. This missile is similar to one of the North Korean ones,” Chuubenko told the media, showing the remains.

The missile has a slightly larger diameter than Russia’s Iskander missile, he said, and the nozzle, internal electrical elements and rear end are also different.

“Therefore, we are leaning towards the version that it could have been a missile that was delivered by North Korea.”

Chubenko refused to name the exact model of the rocket.

Russia this week attacked Kharkiv with multiple missiles, killing two people and injuring more than 60 in one of the largest missile and drone strikes since the full-scale war began in February 2022.

North Korea has been under a UN arms embargo since it first tested a nuclear bomb in 2006.

Resolutions of the UN Security Council, approved with the support of Russia, prohibit countries from exchanging weapons and other military equipment with North Korea.

The White House said on Thursday that Russia recently launched several North Korean-made ballistic missiles over Ukraine.