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, according to Ukrainian military officials.

Russia has fired about 60 North Korean KN-23 missiles at Ukraine this year, according to a Ukrainian defense official. That accounts for nearly one in three of the 194 ballistic missiles fired so far in 2024, a CNN tally of attacks publicly acknowledged by Ukraine’s air force shows.

August and September saw a spike in ballistic missile attacks, when Ukraine first publicly detailed the use of the KN-23.

“We see that since the spring, Russia has been using ballistic missiles and attack drones much more to strike Ukraine. And less use of cruise missiles,” the acting head of communications of the Ukrainian Air Force, Yuriy Ignat, told CNN.