North Korea is expanding a weapons plant that manufactures missiles used by Russia against Ukraine, according to new research from a US-based think tank.

Ukraine has been hit by a surge in Russian ballistic missile attacks, about a third of which used North Korean weapons that can only fly because they run on Western circuitry, obtained despite sanctions,

Russia named the missile the Oreshnik, or hazel tree, and said it is impossible to intercept it with air defenses.

This is the first time Russia has used its so-called Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile in combat. The launch also serves as a warning to the West.

A new ballistic missile fired by Russia at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro last week carried multiple warheads but no explosives, and caused limited damage, two senior Ukrainian government sources said.

Russia fired a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday in response to the U.S. and UK's allowing Kyiv to strike Russian territory with advanced Western weapons,

Ukraine's military on Wednesday reported its forces had conducted successful missile strikes on three Russian command posts and two ammunition warehouses. Ukraine's General Staff of the Armed Forces said in an update posted on Facebook that Kyiv's military had been involved in 73 "combat clashes" during the day.

Russia's Deputy head of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev takes part in a wreath laying ceremony marking Defender of the Fatherland Day at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin Wall in Moscow,

NATO members on Tuesday reaffirmed their support for Ukraine during talks with the country's officials held in response to Russia's launch of an experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile last week.