Ukraine admits to selling missiles to Iran, China

Eighteen Soviet-era X-55 cruise missiles were exported in 2001 -- 12 to Iran and six to China -- Svyatoslav Piskun, Ukraine's prosecutor general, told the London-based paper.

Piskun said the missiles were not exported with the nuclear warheads that they were designed to carry.

Nonetheless, both Japan and the United States were worried about what appeared to be a significant leak of military technology, the newspaper reported.

The X-55, also known as the Kh-55 and AS-15 and first introduced in 1976, has a range of 3,500 kilometers (2,175 miles), which would give China -- or North Korea, if it obtained the missile -- free range over the Asian continent, while Iran could hit its main regional foe, Israel.

Reports emerged earlier this month about the missile sales, but Piskun's statement was the first acknowledgement from the Kiev government.