Zelensky says Russia fired North Korean KN-23 missiles at Ukraine energy site

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia's latest barrage on a key energy facility came with a North Korean twist. In a post on X Saturday, he said Moscow fired KN-23 ballistic missiles manufactured and supplied by Pyongyang at the site. Zelensky framed it as fresh evidence that Russia is leaning on outside help to keep hammering Ukraine.

The numbers are brutal. Russia launched 36 ballistic missiles in the attack, and Ukrainian forces managed to intercept just four of them, according to Zelensky. He pinned the shortfall on a serious shortage of Patriot air-defense interceptors and pressed the United States to speed up deliveries as Kyiv races to shield critical infrastructure before winter sets in.

Zelensky didn't hedge on the source of the weapon. Technical assessments at the strike sites are still underway, but he said preliminary findings point to KN-23 missiles at one of the damaged energy facilities. North Korea manufactured and supplied them, he wrote, calling the strike more proof that global sanctions regimes need to be significantly strengthened.

His message to the world was blunt: anyone providing their quote-unquote services in destroying lives should face tougher consequences. The appeal lands as Ukraine juggles dwindling interceptor stocks with the annual threat of a cold-weather campaign against its power grid.

The strike adds another layer to the growing military pipeline between Moscow and Pyongyang, which Zelensky's account now ties directly to attacks on Ukrainian energy assets. With winter approaching and air defenses stretched thin, Kyiv's next move is a familiar one: pushing Washington for faster, bigger deliveries of Patriot interceptors.