Ukrainian forces have been firing North Korean rockets at Russian positions in Donbass, the Financial Times has claimed.
In its report on Friday, the British newspaper said the munitions in question were shown to its journalist by the Kiev troops operating a Soviet-era Grad multiple rocket launcher near the Russian-held city of Artyomovsk (Bakhmut).
According to the outlet, the markings on the rockets suggested they had been manufactured by Pyongyang in the 1980s and 1990s.
The Ukrainians said the projectiles were “very unreliable” and sometimes did “crazy things.” However, they added that they were still happy to have them amid ammunition shortages experienced by Kiev’s forces. “We need every rocket we can get,” one of the soldiers remarked.
When asked about the origins of the munitions, the troops told the FT that North Korean rockets had been “seized” from a ship by a “friendly” country and handed over to Ukraine.
Yuriy Sak, an adviser to Ukraine’s defense minister, whom the paper also contacted, suggested that the munitions may have been captured from the Russian military.
However, the paper doubted his claim, saying that “it is highly unlikely that North Korea would provide Ukraine directly with the munitions as Pyongyang has been supportive” of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.
Last fall, the New York Times and several other outlets published the findings of a US intelligence assessment, which claimed that Moscow had been purchasing artillery shells and rockets from Pyongyang.
When asked about the issue by journalists at the time, Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder said "We do have indications that Russia has approached North Korea to request ammunition.” In an interview with CNN, Russian Ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov rejected those claims, suggesting that the whole story had been invented by the Western media.
The report in the Financial Times comes in the wake of a visit to Pyongyang by Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu. During the trip, Shoigu touted the “rich history of cooperation” between North Korea and Russia, expressing confidence that those ties would be boosted further. The defense minister held talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and other top officials, inspected Pyongyang’s most advanced weapons, and attended a military parade.