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Washington: US intelligence officials have determined that Russia has acquired ballistic missiles from North Korea and is seeking close-range ballistic missiles from Iran, as it struggles to replenish supplies for its war with Ukraine.
Recently declassified intelligence found that North Korea has provided Russia with ballistic missile launchers and several ballistic missiles, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Friday (AEDT).
Russian forces fired at least one of those ballistic missiles into Ukraine on December 30 which landed in an open field in the Zaporizhzhia region, he said.
It launched multiple North Korean ballistic missiles on January 2 as part of an overnight attack on Kyiv, and the US was assessing the impact, he said. The missiles have a range of about 885 kilometres.
US intelligence officials believe that North Korea, in return for its arms support, wants Moscow to provide it with aircraft, surface-to-air missiles, armoured vehicles, ballistic missile production equipment and other advanced technologies.
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Kirby said that a Russia-Iran deal had not been completed but that the US was “concerned that Russia’s negotiations to acquire close range ballistic missiles from Iran are actively advancing”.
The US intelligence finding supports South Korea’s assessment that North Korea has increased its cooperation with Moscow. South Korea’s military said in November that it suspected the regime of Kim Jong-un had sent an unspecified number of short-range ballistic missiles, anti-tank missiles and portable anti-air missiles to Russia, in addition to rifles, rocket launchers, mortars and shells.
The Biden administration has repeatedly sought to make the case that the Kremlin has become reliant on North Korea, as well as Iran, for the arms it needs to fight its war against Ukraine and has disclosed intelligence findings that it says show as much.
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