Russian forces struck cities across Ukraine overnight with missiles, drones and glide bombs, killing at least nine civilians and wounding scores more, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Moscow is drawing on expanding military support from North Korea to sustain its invasion.
The southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia bore the brunt of the assault, where local officials reported six people killed and 19 wounded. Zelenskyy stated that Russian forces used ballistic missiles supplied by Pyongyang in the strike.
A further three people, including a 15-year-old boy, were killed by Russian drones and artillery in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, local authorities said. A children’s hospital in Kyiv was also struck, according to Ukraine’s state emergency service.
Zelenskyy said Russia has received additional ballistic missiles from North Korea and is preparing to deploy more troops from the country, framing the developments as evidence that Moscow is bracing for a renewed escalation rather than de-escalation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a strategic partnership agreement just over two years ago, pledging mutual assistance if either country faces aggression. Since then, Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops and large supplies of weapons to support the campaign in Ukraine.
Some analysts suggest the deepening cooperation with Moscow is sharpening North Korea’s military capabilities. Zelenskyy warned that the battlefield experience gained could enable Pyongyang to threaten other countries in its region.
Kyiv says Russia is scaling up production of ballistic missiles to exploit Ukraine’s shortage of Patriot air defence interceptors, the systems capable of stopping such projectiles. Ukrainian officials also claim Moscow is preparing an increase in recruitment for a fresh push along the 1,250-kilometre front line stretching across eastern and southern Ukraine.
The latest strikes follow a pattern of intensifying long-range bombardments in recent months, including a barrage that killed at least 17 people in the Kyiv region earlier in August.
Efforts to close Ukraine’s air defence gap have gained urgency, with Kyiv pursuing arrangements to jointly produce Patriot interceptors domestically to counter the growing volume of incoming missiles.
With the conflict now in its fifth year, the reported involvement of North Korean weaponry underscores the widening international dimensions of the war. Ukrainian authorities have signalled they expect further attacks in the coming weeks as Moscow prepares its next offensive.