While Western countries are calling for dialogue with Putin, North Korea and Iran are supplying ballistics to Russia to strike Ukraine
For over a year now, Russia has been receiving deadly weapons from third countries to destroy Ukraine and subdue its people. According to the US, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) recently handed over launchers and several dozen ballistic missiles to Russia. Moscow will use them to hit more of Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure during the cold weather and kill Ukrainian civilians. In addition, North Korea sent more than one million artillery shells to Russia last year, which facilitated the Russian army’s ability to continue full-fledged combat operations against Ukraine. Russia is turning to North Korea for weapons in pursuit of its criminal military objectives in Ukraine, violating numerous UN Security Council resolutions that Russia has supported as a permanent member.
Apart from the DPRK, Russia is negotiating the purchase of short-range ballistic missiles from Iran. If the deal goes through, the first delivery of Iranian missiles to Moscow could take place as early as spring. The Kremlin’s desire to acquire Iranian missiles became apparent in mid-December last year when a Russian delegation visited an Iranian test site. The visit followed a September trip by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu to the headquarters of the IRGC Air and Space Forces in Tehran. Iran has been supplying Russia with attack drones since as early as 2022, which Russia has used to strike civilian targets in Ukraine.
At this time in the West, many politicians and experts who lobby for Moscow’s interests are calling for negotiations with Putin, while he clearly intends to destroy Ukraine with missiles. Today, Kyiv can only shoot down ballistic missiles with modern Western PATRIOT and SAMP/T systems, which are in short supply.
Striking targets in Ukraine with ballistic missiles, combined with cruise missiles and drones, encourages Russia to more actively seek them abroad. The most effective response to Russian crimes against the Ukrainian people is to provide Ukraine with air defence systems, long-range missiles and the rest of the weapons that will inflict tangible casualties
