April 12, 2024: Russia continues to buy weapons from North Korea. This includes about 60 North Korean Hwasong-11 ballistic missiles for use against Ukraine. Ten have been used so far this year.

The Hwasong-11 is a 3.4 ton missile that carries a warhead with half a ton of explosives. Range is 450 kilometers and accuracy is nominally 100 meters. That means the missile will detonate within 100 meters of the point it was aimed at. This is adequate if the targets are civilian infrastructure.

So far Russia has used about 50 North Korean Hwasong-11s against targets in Ukraine during ten separate attacks. Russia has been unable to build enough of its own missiles to continue attacks against civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. The Hwasong-11 is carried and launched from a 8x8 wheel TEL (Transport Erector Launcher) vehicle. The TEL can also be mounted, with a missile, on a railroad flat car. Russia favors the railroad TEL because Russian has an extensive railroad network and comparatively few roads capable of handling a Hwasong-11 TEL.

North Korea is making a lot of much needed money selling weapons to Russia. Hwasong-11 missiles cost about $8 million each. North Korea not only needs the money, but it also needs food for its people, many of them currently malnourished. Russia has apparently used food supplies as partial payment for the Hwasong-11 missiles.

Russia has attacked Ukraine with Hwasong-11 at least 10 times in 2024, using about 50 missiles overall. Russia uses Hwasong-11s against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.