UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 11 (AP) — The United States, Ukraine and six allies accused Russia on Wednesday of using North Korean ballistic missiles and launchers in a series of devastating aerial attacks against Ukraine, in violation of U.N. sanctions.

Their joint statement, issued ahead of a Security Council meeting on Ukraine, cited the use of North Korean weapons during waves of strikes on Dec. 30, Jan. 2 and Jan. 6 and said the violations increase suffering of the Ukrainian people, “support Russia’s brutal war of aggression, and undermine the global nonproliferation regime.”

The eight countries — also including France, the United Kingdom, Japan, Malta, South Korea and Slovenia — accused Russia of exploiting its position as a veto-wielding permanent member of the council and warned that “each violation makes the world a much more dangerous place.”

At the council meeting, Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the information came from U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, but he said representatives of the Ukrainian air force “specifically said that Kyiv did not have any evidence of this fact.”