‘China, Iran got Ukraine missiles’

The X-55 had a range of 3,000 km (1,800 miles), enough to put Japan within striking range of the Asian continent or to reach Israel from Iran, said the newspaper.

A spokesman for the Prosecutor-General’s office in Kiev offered no comment on the report, but said: ‘‘A meeting is now going on. Please wait two or three hours.’’

The report appeared less than three months after Ukrainians elected a new Western-leaning President, Viktor Yushchenko, to lead the former Soviet republic.

The United States has long expressed concern that parts of the former Soviet Union’s nuclear arsenal could be sold or smuggled to countries that it regards as a potential danger. Piskun said the previous administration under President Leonid Kuchma had charged a Ukrainian businessman over the exports and initiated a secret trial last year.

One of two Russian businessmen suspected of masterminding the sale was arrested in Prague last July and was under an extradition request, he said.

The Financial Times quoted the US Embassy in Kiev as saying it was ‘‘closely monitoring’’ a Ukrainian government investigation into the case and wanted the findings of the secret trial made public.

Piskun was quoted as saying he believed Japan was concerned that the missiles sent to China could have ended up in North Korea.