The Ukrainian armed forces have been using missiles made in North Korea to fire against the Russians despite their notorious unreliability, a report from the Financial Times has claimed.
Ukrainian artillery crews are utilising missiles for the Soviet-era Grad multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS) produced in the communist nation of North Korea, according to the Financial Times.
The paper claimed that Ukrainian forces showed off their North Korean military kit to one of its reporters near the heavily damaged city of Bakhmut. The missiles were also photographed by Getty Images and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia region late last month, however, they were not identified as having been produced in North Korea.
Speaking to the FT, a Ukrainian artillery commander identified as Ruslan said that his troops were not inclined to use the missiles from North Korea, which were likely produced in the 1980s and 1990s, as they are unreliable, with a high dud rate, but said: “We need every rocket we can get.”
ZAPORIZHZHIA OBLAST, UKRAINE – JUNE 27: Ukrainian artillerymen load the rockets into a “Grad” multiple rocket launcher on position near Orikhiv on June 27, 2023 in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine. (Photo by Serhii Mykhalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
A soldier in the Grad artillery unit is said to have told the paper’s reporter to not get too close to the launcher as the North Korean missiles “are very unreliable and do crazy things sometimes”. The Soviet-era Grad rockets have also been described by Human Rights Watch as “notoriously indiscriminate”.
The Grad artillery system is a self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher developed by the Soviet Union in the 1960s. The truck-mounted launcher is capable of firing up to 40 missiles within 20 seconds. Due to its simplicity and ubiquity, Grad systems have been widely produced outside of Russia and have been a staple of the fighting in Ukraine since 2014.
The paper noted that it was unlikely for Pyongyang to have supplied the missiles directly to Kyiv given North Korea’s support of Moscow during the invasion. Just this week, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu flew to the hermit kingdom to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice and to “and “strengthen cooperation” between the militaries of the two countries.
ZAPORIZHZHIA OBLAST, UKRAINE – JUNE 27: Ukrainian artillerymen load the rockets into a “Grad” multiple rocket launcher on position near Orikhiv on June 27, 2023 in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine. (Photo by Serhii Mykhalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Last autumn, American intelligence officials claimed, through outlets such as the New York Times, that Moscow had been buying artillery shells and rockets from North Korea, however, the Kremlin denied such reports, claiming that it was a fabrication of Western media.
An adviser to Ukraine’s defence minister, Yuriy Sak claimed that they had been taken from Russian armed forces operating in Ukraine, saying: “We capture their tanks, we capture their equipment and it is very possible that this is also the result of the Ukrainian army successfully conducting a military operation,” said
“Russia has been shopping around for different types of munitions in all kinds of tyrannies, including North Korea and Iran,” Sak added.
Some soldiers using the North Korean rockets claimed that they had been “seized” from a ship by a “friendly” country before being provided to Ukraine, but did not elaborate further.
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