The remains of a North Korean-made missile found in Ukraine contain components apparently made in Europe and the United States, despite sanctions imposed on Pyongyang, a specialized organization said in a report on Tuesday, cited by AFP.

North Korea is supplying Russia with weapons for its war against Ukraine, according to the West, which has imposed sweeping sanctions against the isolated Asian country for years.

But PHENIAN appears to be able to circumvent those sanctions to obtain spare parts, according to this report by the NGO Conflict Armament Research (CAR).

Its investigators “found that a ballistic missile manufactured in (North Korea) and seized in Ukraine contained more than 290 external electronic components.” According to the non-governmental organization, three-quarters of them are related to companies based in the United States, and 16% – in Europe.

According to his estimates, the missile under investigation, found on January 2 in Kharkiv, was assembled no earlier than March 2023.

In early January, the United States, the European Union (EU) and nearly 50 other countries accused North Korea of ​​supplying missiles to Russia, despite longstanding international sanctions against Pyongyang over its military and nuclear activities.

North Korea is currently the largest supplier of weapons to Russia, said the head of the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, in a January interview with the Financial Times.

Moscow and Pyongyang have significantly strengthened their military ties since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Earlier on January 15, a spokesman for Ukrainian military intelligence said that Pyongyang had supplied Russia with about a million shells, mostly 122 mm and 152 mm artillery shells.

As Kyiv and Washington reported, Russia also used North Korean ballistic missiles against Ukraine for the first time during the strikes on Kharkiv on January 2.

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