Russia Using North Korean Missiles to Strike Ukraine, Zelensky Says

KYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that Russia fired North Korean ballistic missiles in overnight strikes on Zaporizhzhia that killed at least six people and injured 19, BBC reported.

The Zaporizhzhia attack was part of a wider Russian aerial campaign that killed at least nine people across Ukraine overnight, CBS News reported. Zelensky responded by publicly mocking Russian President Vladimir Putin’s dependence on North Korean military assistance, The Independent reported. He framed Moscow’s reliance on Pyongyang as evidence that Russia cannot wage the war independently — a message Kyiv has been pressing as it seeks more support from its allies.

Zelensky Calls on Japan and South Korea

Following the strikes, Zelensky said that Russia is bringing in more North Korean troops and missiles and called on Japan and South Korea to increase their support for Ukraine in response, Plataforma Media reported. The appeal casts the North Korea-Russia military relationship as a direct concern for both countries’ security interests, not only Ukraine’s.

South Korea has not shifted its position. The Kyiv Post reported Monday that even as North Korea continues to arm Russia, South Korea continues to decline sending weapons directly to Ukraine. Pyongyang is supplying the ballistic missiles being fired at Ukrainian cities, while Seoul — which shares a peninsula with North Korea — has not provided weapons to the country absorbing those strikes.

Zelensky’s call to both Tokyo and Seoul signals that Kyiv expects Japan and South Korea to act on the security implications of North Korea’s expanding military role in the conflict.

Ukraine Strikes Deep into Russia

While Russian missiles struck Ukrainian cities overnight, Ukraine conducted its own long-range operation on Russian soil. Ukrainian forces said they hit a Russian oil refinery approximately 1,500 kilometers from the frontline, BBC reported. A confirmed strike at that distance would rank among Ukraine’s deepest reported attacks into Russian territory.

AP News reported that despite earlier statements by President Trump suggesting Ukraine had no cards and no leverage in negotiations, Kyiv has continued to carry the war to Russian soil, striking targets deep inside Russia even while absorbing aerial attacks on its own cities. Ukraine’s broader campaign against Russian energy and production infrastructure is documented in earlier reporting.

North Korea’s Deepening Military Footprint

Monday’s events are the latest in a pattern Zelensky has consistently highlighted. Earlier this month, he warned that North Korea had deployed approximately 50,000 troops to support Russian forces. That manpower contribution has been accompanied by documented weapons transfers — including the ballistic missiles Zelensky now says were used in Zaporizhzhia.

In statements over the past several days, Zelensky has warned that the Russia-North Korea military partnership is expanding rather than stabilizing. Monday’s assertion that Russia is bringing in still more North Korean troops and missiles suggests Kyiv sees the relationship continuing to deepen.

Zelensky’s central argument runs through all of these statements: Russia’s dependence on North Korea demonstrates that Moscow relies on outside military support to maintain its operations, while Pyongyang’s contributions create security interests for Japan and South Korea that neither government has yet fully acted on. Monday’s strikes on Zaporizhzhia gave that argument its sharpest evidence yet.