Russian forces launched missile, drone and glide bomb attacks across Ukraine on Tuesday, killing at least 10 civilians and wounding dozens. The southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia sustained a strike that killed seven people and injured 24 others, while three more — including a 15-year-old boy — died in the central Dnipropetrovsk region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Moscow of using ballistic missiles supplied by North Korea in the overnight assault on Zaporizhzhia. He also said Kyiv had conveyed proposals for a peace plan to U.S. negotiators.
Russia has relied on North Korea for military support throughout its four-and-a-half-year invasion of Ukraine. Early in the conflict, Pyongyang dispatched thousands of troops to aid Russian forces in the Kursk region. Western governments, Kyiv and Seoul have consistently assessed that North Korea supplies weapons to Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a strategic partnership agreement in 2024, pledging mutual aid if either country faces aggression.
Zelenskyy warned that North Korea is preparing to deploy additional troops to Russia and said the battlefield experience gained in Ukraine would help Pyongyang threaten other countries in the region.
Ukraine says Russia is increasing its own production of ballistic missiles at the same time Kyiv faces a critical shortage of Patriot air defense interceptors needed to stop such projectiles.
"Every step Russia takes — increasing ballistic missile production, bringing in North Korean equipment, preparing for mobilization — all of this shows that Moscow is preparing not for peace, but for escalation," Zelenskyy said on social media.
U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to end the war have faltered, with Washington's attention shifting to the conflict with Iran.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, concluded that the Kremlin will not engage in serious negotiations or make meaningful compromises as long as Putin believes a military path can achieve his objectives. The institute said Ukraine's Patriot shortages give Russia an opportunity to inflict serious damage over the coming winter, likely prolonging the war.
In an unusual move, Ukraine's air force did not specify the number of missiles Russia launched overnight in its daily report. Officials in Kyiv offered no immediate comment on the omission.
