Russia received missiles from North Korea: expert said which regions are in danger
Date: 2024-01-08 Author: Кирило Загоруйко Categories: WAR
Military expert Alexander Musienko analyzed the threat from Russia receiving North Korean ballistic missiles and told which regions of Ukraine are in the greatest danger from the use of these weapons.
On the air of a national telethon, he noted that, according to the United States, a North Korean ballistic missile was first used by Russia on the territory of Ukraine on December 30 last year and fell into a field in the Zaporozhye region.
“We all understand that obviously the field was not the target, but apparently Zaporozhye or another populated area where the missile was supposed to hit. That is, there was simply an emergency landing, as they say in the aggressor country. It can be assumed that the first case of use was problematic or the Russian military personnel who launched the rocket were undertrained, so something went wrong,” Musienko said.
The expert added that the United States believes that these are actually medium-range missiles, because “they can cover a distance even greater than the Iskander - up to 900 km.” “From what is known about the types of these missiles, the KN-23 is considered a copy of the Iskander, because it is very similar in its characteristics. Obviously, Russia first helped North Korea with the production of these ballistic missiles, and then bought it. And this indicates "that the Russian military industry has problems with the production of ballistic missiles. According to Western analysts and Ukrainian intelligence, Russia produces about 100 cruise missiles per month, but there is no information on ballistic missiles," Musienko emphasized.
Considering the information that Russia could receive several dozen ballistic missiles from North Korea, according to the expert, in terms of quantity, “it’s not a lot, but it’s not a little either.” The main thing here is to understand the purpose of the enemy’s use of these ballistic missiles.
“Russia will not use them for one or two targeted strikes on some object. Russia will use them for terrorist attacks. That is, ballistic missiles in such quantities are actually weapons that can be used for attacks on cities. Thus, like Kharkov, Dnepr, Zaporozhye, the Ukrainian capital. Central and Eastern Ukraine are all covered (by range). Almost everywhere can be reached if strikes are made from Russian territory, from occupied territories or from occupied Crimea. Therefore, this usually presents new challenges and threats,” Musienko emphasized.
He added that North Korean ballistic missiles do not fundamentally change the balance of power in the war. “To be able to say that Russia received these weapons and now that’s it, nothing will work. But then it is important to analyze how they will be used. It seems to me, given the situation that has now arisen on the enemy’s battlefield, they decided that We need to hit our rear as much as possible, carry out terrorist attacks and thus put pressure on Ukraine and Ukrainian society,” Musienko emphasized.
The expert also believes that Ukraine is capable of producing its own missiles. After all, even before the full-scale invasion, our country had a missile program and we have certain developments in this area. “There were even first orders, the Sapsan missile system was tested, also with the export version of Grom 2. Its further fate has not been announced. But, obviously, this is something that needs to be worked on,” Musienko emphasized.
He noted that it is very important to manufacture Ukrainian missiles so that Ukraine can carry out strikes with its own missiles. “The most important point is that we don’t need to create from scratch, because we had certain developments. In general, this complex (Grom 2) was designed as actually a transformer. It was envisaged as an operational-tactical missile for striking ground targets, in the future - as an anti-aircraft missile system and even as a complex that can fire anti-ship missiles. That is, everything that is needed, in fact, is three in one. I hope we will see it," Musienko emphasized.
He added that technologically it is fundamentally important to have good engines for the production of ballistic missiles. “We really have a production system, it is there. The explosive part is also not a problem. Everything else is necessary, I don’t think that our Western partners would be against selling us so that we can produce it ourselves. There are no fundamental difficulties, provided there is funding and the will to do this,” Musienko concluded.
