A North Korean ballistic missile similar to the one acquired by Russia.
KCNA
Russia fires North Korean-made ballistic missiles into Ukraine from positions north of the Russian-Ukrainian border.
The rocket attacks, Apparently they were KN-23 solid fuel rockets, could have caused significant damage. At least one open source analyst believes Russia's new North Korean missiles have hit two Ukrainian army logistics bases in recent days. Destroy up to 10 valuable tank trucks.
Russia's acquisition of KN-23s – 7,500-pound solid-fuel missiles with 1,100-pound warheads – represents a significant escalation in Russia's 23-month war against Ukraine. And Ukraine may not be able to retaliate with similar weapons.
International sanctions prohibit North Korea from exporting its home-made missiles. But the regimes of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un are clearly confident they can flaunt sanctions and expand the war without risking a serious response from Ukraine and its allies.
U.S. national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Pyongyang had been supplying Moscow forces with missiles and launchers. The inertia-guided KN-23 is typically launched from a wheeled transport erector launch vehicle. The range is approximately 400 miles and it should hit within 35 meters of its target point.
It's not a super weapon. The KN-23 is broadly similar to the Russian Iskander ballistic missile. Ukraine's best US-made anti-aircraft missiles – Patriot PAC-2 – routinely shoot down Iskanders.
But Ukraine only has three Patriot batteries, probably one each in Kiev, Odessa and Kharkiv. This leaves other cities defenseless against ballistic missiles. According to Kirby, it was not for nothing that Russia directed its first KN-23 attacks on Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine – a city without Patriot protection.
By delivering KN-23s, North Korea is expanding Russia's missile arsenal and helping it maintain record levels of fire fired since last month. Moscow's goal is apparently to fire more missiles than Ukraine can intercept with its limited supply of anti-aircraft batteries and missile reloads.
Ukraine could target the KN-23 launchers, but with what? Its locally manufactured Tochka-U ballistic missiles have a range of about 75 miles. And Kiev has assured its allies that it will not strike inside Russia with either the air-launched cruise missiles it received from Britain and France or the ground-launched missiles it received from the United States.
Ukraine makes its own long-range attack drones and has also converted its old S-200 surface-to-air missiles into ground attack weapons with a range of 300 miles. It is unclear whether either could strike quickly and accurately enough to take out a KN-23 system on the ground.
Additionally, we don't know for sure whether the Ukrainians can even detect a KN-23 before launch – or quickly enough after launch – to get a clear shot at the launch vehicle.
Ukraine could respond asymmetrically by carrying out harsher attacks on Russian hinterlands within Ukraine – such as occupied Crimea. But again: with what? Ukraine alone produces only a handful of deep-hit munitions per month. It relies on its allies to meet its ammunition needs. And his allies are unreliable.
Worst of all is the United States, which provided Ukraine with about 20 100-mile-range Army Tactical Missile System missiles last year — but has since refused to add to Ukraine's ATACMS arsenal.
One problem is the White House's reluctance to provide Ukraine with large quantities of the most powerful weapons. The far bigger problem is that pro-Russian Republicans in the US Congress have refused for months to vote on the White House's proposal to spend $61 billion on arming Ukraine in 2024.
Until Republicans decide to support Ukraine over Russia, Russia can continue firing four-ton North Korean missiles into an increasingly defenseless Ukraine. And Ukraine will have vanishingly few options to strike back.
Follow me up Twitter. Check out my website or some of my other work here. Send me a sure tip.