A Russian strike using a suspected North Korean ballistic missile hit residential homes in the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine on Thursday, killing six people including three children, local officials confirmed. The attack marks the first confirmed use of a North Korean-supplied missile by Russian forces in the conflict in nearly a year, raising concerns about Moscow’s resupplied arsenal.
In the city of Kryvyi Rih, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown, the missile struck a residential building, killing a family of five including a 6-year-old girl and boys aged 11 and 17. Their parents were also killed in the attack. Two more children were pulled alive from the rubble, Zelenskyy said. "It was an ordinary home, blown to smithereens by a ballistic missile," he wrote on X.
Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, confirmed that six people were killed and ten wounded in the strike on the region. The military source who spoke on condition of anonymity said the last confirmed Russian use of a North Korean ballistic missile against Ukraine was on August 8, 2025. The re-emergence of these weapons after a significant hiatus suggests Moscow has replenished its arsenal, potentially enabling Russia to escalate its missile campaign.
The overnight assault was broader than a single strike. In Kyiv, Russian forces struck the capital with ballistic missiles, killing a 31-year-old man and wounding two others. More than 56,000 people sheltered in the capital’s subway stations overnight, according to the Kyiv City Military Administration, as air raid alerts sounded across the country.
In the western city of Lviv, a cruise missile attack killed one person and wounded over thirty, including children aged 6, 13, and 15, according to Maksym Kozytskyi, head of the Lviv regional military administration. In the Poltava region, a drone strike hit company warehouses, killing one person, said regional military head Vitalii Diakivnych. Russian forces also dropped three powerful glide bombs on an industrial zone in the southern city of Kherson, killing a 56-year-old man, local officials reported.
North Korea has been a close ally of Russia throughout the conflict in Ukraine, providing thousands of troops, millions of artillery shells, and ballistic missiles for the war effort. The Ukrainian air force did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the latest suspected North Korean weapon use. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly documented cases of North Korean weapons being used against civilian targets since late 2023.
President Zelenskyy decried the shortages of air defense supplies and urged allies to help. "Every Russian strike demonstrates exactly why Ukraine needs more air defense systems and missiles," he said in his nightly address. "We are grateful for the support we have received, but we need more to protect our cities and our people."
The combined death toll from the overnight Russian strikes across multiple Ukrainian regions stood at eight, with dozens more wounded. The strikes hit targets from east to west, demonstrating Russia’s continued ability to strike deep into Ukrainian territory despite Ukrainian advances in drone warfare and long-range strikes against Russian infrastructure.
Sources: The Independent, Associated Press, statements from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and regional officials
Author: Pulse Of Nations Wire Desk
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