North Korea is preparing to send to Russia more troops and weapons, including kamikaze drones, to support Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine, South Korea’s military has claimed.
North Korea has already provided 240mm multiple rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled howitzers, and was seen preparing to produce more suicide drones to be shipped to Russia after leader Kim Jong Un guided a test last month, according to Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
“Suicide drones are one of the tasks that Kim Jong Un has focused on,” a JCS official said, adding that the North had expressed its intention to give them to Russia.
Such drones have been widely used in the Ukraine war, and Kim ordered a mass production of the aerial weapons and an update of military theory and education, citing intensifying global competition, state media reported.
Seoul, Washington and Kyiv have said there are around 12,000 North Korean troops in Russia. The JCS said at least 1,100 of them had been killed or wounded, reportedly in the border region of Kursk.
Key points
- Putin holds talks with Slovakian PM Fico
- Russia urged to act lawfully as video shows 'captured Australian man'
- Putin forces captures two villages in Ukraine
- Ukraine says Russian forces executed five POWs
South Korea detects signs of North Korea preparing more troops, drones for Russia
09:33
Tom Watling
South Korea’s military said on Monday that it has detected signs of North Korea preparing to send more troops and weapons, including suicide drones, to Russia to support its war against Ukraine.
North Korea has already provided 240mm multiple rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled howitzers, and was seen preparing to produce more suicide drones to be shipped to Russia after leader Kim Jong Un guided a test last month, according to Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
“Suicide drones are one of the tasks that Kim Jong Un has focused on,” a JCS official said, adding that the North had expressed its intention to give them to Russia.
Such drones have been widely used in the Ukraine war, and Kim ordered a mass production of the aerial weapons and an update of military theory and education, citing intensifying global competition, state media reported.
Seoul, Washington and Kyiv have said there are around 12,000 North Korean troops in Russia. The JCS said at least 1,100 of them had been killed or wounded, in line with last week’s briefing by South Korea’s spy agency which reported some 100 deaths with another 1,000 wounded in the Kursk region.
Pope Francis calls for a ceasefire on all fronts in his prayer ahead of Christmas
09:07
Tom Watling
Putin ‘wants to meet Trump as soon as possible’
08:04
Namita Singh
US president-elect Donald Trump said Russian president Vladimir Putin has expressed his interest in a meeting him to discuss the Ukraine war.
“President Putin said that he wants to meet with me as soon as possible,” Mr Trump said during his remarks at Turning Point’s America Fest convention yesterday. “So we have to wait for this, but we have to end that war. That war is horrible, horrible,” he was quoted as saying by CNBC.
“The number of soldiers being killed...” Mr Trump said. “It’s a flat plane, and the bullets are going and there’s powerful bullets, powerful guns, and the only thing that’s going to stop them is a human body.”
Earlier, Mr Trump has claimed he could end the Ukraine war “in 24 hours” if he gets elected.
Ukraine says it shot down 47 Russia launched drones
07:32
Namita Singh
Ukraine’s air force said it had shot down 47 out of 72 Russia-launched drones across the country.
In a statement on Telegram this morning, it said that an additional 25 drones had not reached targets and were “locationally lost”.
Gazprom to send 42.1 mcm of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Monday
07:30
Namita Singh
Russia’s Gazprom said that it would send 42.1 million cubic metres of gas to Europe via Ukraine this morning, a volume in line with recent days.
Nato chief Rutte says Zelensky’s criticism of Germany’s Scholz is unfair
07:18
Namita Singh
Nato secretary general Mark Rutte said he considered the sometimes harsh criticism of German chancellor Olaf Scholz by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to be unjustified, news wire DPA reported.
Although Germany has been a vital ally of Ukraine, its hesitation in providing long-range Taurus cruise missiles has been a source of frustration in Kyiv, which is battling a foe armed with a powerful array of long-range weaponry.
“I have often told Zelenskiy that he should stop criticising Olaf Scholz, because I think it is unfair,” DPA quoted Mr Rutte on Monday as saying in an interview.
Mr Rutte also said that he, unlike Mr Scholz, would supply Ukraine with Taurus cruise missiles and would not set limits on their use.
“In general, we know that such capabilities are very important for Ukraine,”Mr Rutte said, adding that it was not up to him to decide what allies should deliver.
After a November telephone call by Mr Scholz with Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin in November, Mr Zelensky said it had opened a Pandora’s box that undermined efforts to isolate the Russian leader and end the war in Ukraine with a “fair peace”.
Ukraine launch cross-border attack on fuel and energy facilities
07:00
Holly Evans
Ukrainian drones struck a major Russian fuel depot for the second time in just over a week on Sunday, according to a senior Russian regional official, as part of a “massive” cross-border attack on fuel and energy facilities that Kyiv says supply Moscow’s military.
The strikes came days after Russia launched sweeping attacks on Ukraine’s already battered energy grid, threatening to plunge thousands of homes into darkness as winter tightens its grip over the region, and as Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbor nears the three-year mark.
A fire broke out at the Stalnoy Kon oil terminal in Russia’s southern Oryol region, local Gov. Andrey Klychkov said in a post on the Telegram messaging app, adding Russian forces downed 20 drones targeting “fuel and energy infrastructure” in the province.
Russia urged to act lawfully as video shows 'captured Australian man'
06:41
Namita Singh
The Australian government is making urgent inquiries after a video on social media appeared to show a citizen captured by Russian authorities.
In the video, a 32-year-old man identified himself as Oscar Jenkins, a biology teacher from Australia. Mr Jenkins’s hands were bound by tape as he answered questions about his identity in English and broken Russian. In the footage circulating online, the man, dressed in military fatigue, could be seen being struck on his head with a cane, as he said: “I’m Australian…Oscar Jenkins. 32 years old … I study biology.”
“This is concerning news, and we’re working through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to provide support, including, for this gentleman, trying to ascertain the details and the facts which are there,” Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese told reporters on Monday morning.
The acting foreign affair minister Mark Dreyfus, meanwhile urged Russia to treat Mr Jenkins as per international laws.
“We urge the Russian government to fully adhere to its obligations under international humanitarian law, including with respect to prisoners of war. Our immediate priority is understanding where Mr Jenkins is and confirming his wellbeing,” he said.
Putin praises Boris Johnson’s hair as he peddles baseless Ukraine army theory
06:00
Holly Evans
Zelensky to replace Japan’s ambassador
05:45
Namita Singh
In a major reshuffle, Volodymyr Zelensky has announced replacing Sergiy Korsunsky as the country’s ambassador to Japan.
On Friday, the Ukrainian president approved appointment of 30 new ambassadors including the envoys to China and Lithuania. However, Mr Korsunsky’s successor in Japan has not yet been announced. He is expected to stay in the country till February, he told NHK.
Mr Korsunsky, named as ambassador to Japan in 2020, has been actively campaigning across the Asian nation, seeking support for his country and had in past expressed gratitude for the monetary donations delivered to the Ukrainian embassy in Ukraine.
North Korea aiding Russia where it needs it most, says Canadian general
05:30
Namita Singh
Through the supply of troops and weapons, North Korea is aiding Moscow in the areas it needs the most support, said a Canadian general.
“North Koreans are not only replacing some Russian personnel but they are also making up for the lack of munitions and other assets that Russia either can’t produce on its own or can’t replace as fast as needed to sustain a war of attrition like this one,” Major General Greg Smith, director-general of international security policy with Canada’s Department of National Defence told The Japan Times.
“This means that North Koreans are physically fighting and dying for Russia, which is a very troubling development that highlights the growing internationalization of the conflict,” Mr Smith told the outlet.
The remarks come as Washington and Kyiv recently claimed that North Korean soldiers took heavy casualties while fighting Ukrainian forces in the Russian border region.
The Ukrainian military intelligence agency said at least 30 North Korean troops were killed or wounded, while a US official suggested the figure for North Korean casualties was in the “several hundreds”.
Ukraine says Russian general deliberately targeted Reuters staff in August missile strike
05:15
Namita Singh
Ukraine’s security service has named a Russian general it suspects of ordering a missile strike on a hotel in eastern Ukraine in August and said he acted “with the motive of deliberately killing employees of” Reuters.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said in a statement on Friday that Colonel General Alexei Kim, a deputy chief of Russia’s General Staff, approved the strike that killed Reuters safety adviser Ryan Evans and wounded two of the agency’s journalists on 24 August.
In a statement posted on Telegram messenger the SBU said it was notifying Mr Kim in absentia that he was an official suspect in its investigation into the strike on the Sapphire Hotel in Kramatorsk, a step in Ukrainian criminal proceedings that can later lead to charges.
In a separate, 15-page notice of suspicion, in which the SBU set out findings from its investigation, the agency said that the decision to fire the missile was made “with the motive of deliberately killing employees of the international news agency Reuters who were engaged in journalistic activities in Ukraine”.
The document, which was published on the website of the General Prosecutor’s Office on Friday, said that Mr Kim had received intelligence that Reuters staff were staying in Kramatorsk. It added that Kim would have been “fully aware that the individuals were civilians and not participating in the armed conflict”.
The Russian defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the SBU’s findings and has not replied to previous questions about the attack. The Kremlin also did not respond to a request for comment.
Russia captures two villages in Ukraine as Moscow’s forces advance on two cities
05:00
Namita Singh
Russian forces captured two villages in Ukraine, one in Kharkiv region in the northeast and one in eastern Donetsk region, the Russian defence ministry said on Sunday.
Donetsk region is where Moscow is concentrating most of its efforts to seize two cities.
Russian forces, making steady progress across Donetsk region, are moving on the towns of Pokrovsk, a logistics centre and site of an important coking colliery, and appear to be closing in on Kurakhove, farther south.
The Defence Ministry statement said troops had taken control of Lozova, near the town of Kupiansk, in an area north of Donetsk region also under Russian pressure in recent weeks. The village of Sontsivka, north of Kurakhove, was also captured.
The ministry on Saturday announced the capture of another village near Kurakhove, Kostiantynopolske.
The Ukraine military’s general staff made no mention of those villages falling into Russian hands, but said Sontsivka was in a sector subject to 26 Russian attacks in the past 24 hours. The general staff also reported heavy fighting near Pokrovsk, with 34 Russian attempts to pierce defences.
The popular Ukrainian military blog DeepState said Sontsivka was under Russian control.
Russian reports have described intensified pressure on Kurakhove.
Who are the other European leaders who met Putin?
04:36
Namita Singh
Visits and phone calls from European leaders to Vladimir Putin have been rare since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine, although Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orban visited Russia in July, and Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer met with the Russian leader just weeks into the full-scale war.
Both trips drew condemnation from Kyiv and European leaders.
Mr Orban, widely seen as having the warmest relations with Mr Putin among EU leaders, has routinely blocked, delayed or watered down EU efforts to assist Kyiv and impose sanctions on Moscow for its actions in Ukraine.
He has long argued for a cessation of hostilities in Ukraine but without outlining what that might mean for the country’s territorial integrity or future security.
Mr Fico’s views on Russia’s war on Ukraine differ sharply from most other European leaders. The Slovakian PM returned to power last year after his leftist party Smer won parliamentary elections on a pro-Russia and anti-American platform. Since then, he has ended his country’s military aid for Ukraine, lashed out at EU sanctions on Russia, and vowed to block Ukraine from joining Nato.
Mr Fico has also been a rare senior EU politician to appear on Russian state TV following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. In an interview with the Rossiya-1 channel in October, he contended the West has “prolonged the war” by supporting Ukraine, adding that sanctions against Russia were ineffective. He declared that he was ready to negotiate with Putin.
Mr Fico also vowed to attend a military parade in Moscow next May that will mark the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat in World War II. The Kremlin has used the annual “Victory Day” celebrations to tout its battlefield prowess, and Putin hailed Russian troops fighting in Ukraine as “heroes” at this year’s event.
What’s behind Fico’s rare visit to Russia
04:21
Namita Singh
Robert Fico’s visit to Moscow was reaction to Volodymyr Zelensky’s opposition to gas transit to Slovakia through Ukraine.
Sharing details about his visit, Mr Fico said on Facebook that Ukrainian president supported sanctions against Russia’s nuclear program, which was against Slovakia’s interest as it relied on nuclear energy.
Mr Fico said Mr Putin confirmed to him that Russia is still ready to deliver gas to the West. He said the two also discussed the military situation in Ukraine, chances for a peaceful solution to the war and the bilateral relations between their two countries which Fico said they will seek to “standardise.”
His trip, however, was condemned by the major Slovak opposition parties.
Slovakia last month signed a short-term pilot contract to buy natural gas from Azerbaijan, as it prepares for a possible halt to Russian supplies through Ukraine.
Earlier this year, it struck a deal to import US liquefied natural gas through a pipeline from Poland.
The country can also receive gas through Austrian, Hungarian and Czech networks, enabling imports from Germany among other potential suppliers.
Ukraine says Russian forces executed five POWs
04:00
Holly Evans
Russian forces executed five Ukrainian prisoners of war, Ukraine’s Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, said on Sunday.
Lubinets said on the Telegram messenger app that Russian troops shot the five unarmed soldiers after capturing them. He gave no details, but will report this fact to the UN.
“Russian war criminals who shoot Ukrainian prisoners of war should be brought before an international tribunal and punished with the most severe punishment provided for by law,” Lubinets said.
Russia did not immediately comment on the incident, but has previous denied committing war crimes.
Putin holds talks with Slovakian PM Fico
03:02
Namita Singh
Russian president Vladimir Putin yesterday hosted Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, in a rare visit to the Kremlin by an EU leader since Moscow’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Mr Fico arrived in Russia on a “working visit” and met with Mr Putin one-on-one on yesterday evening, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russia’s RIA news agency.
According to Mr Peskov, the talks were expected to focus on “the international situation” and Russian natural gas deliveries.
Russian natural gas still flows to some European countries, including Slovakia, through Ukraine under a five-year agreement signed before the war that is due to expire at the end of this year.
At a summit in Brussels on Thursday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky told EU leaders that Kyiv has no intention of renewing the deal, something Mr Fico insisted will harm his country’s interests.
Russian oil refinery engulfed in flames after ‘Ukrainian drone strike’
02:00
Holly Evans
Zelensky admits Ukraine does not have military strength to reclaim lost territories from Russia
00:00
Holly Evans
Ukraine lacks the military capability to retake all the territories occupied by Russia since 2014, president Volodymyr Zelensky has acknowledged, as he urged the West to take stronger action to confront Moscow.
In an interview with the French newspaper Le Parisien, Mr Zelensky made it clear that Kyiv would not formally recognise Russian control over any Ukrainian territory.
“Legally, we cannot give up our territories. This is prohibited by the constitution,” the Ukrainian president said. “But let’s not use such big words. Russia actually controls part of our territory today.”
Read the full article here:
UK may send British troops to Ukraine to train soldiers, defence secretary suggests
Sunday 22 December 2024 23:00
Holly Evans
The one battle President Zelensky looks set to win
Sunday 22 December 2024 22:00
Holly Evans
Not so very long ago, Vladimir Putin, the would-be reincarnation of Joseph Stalin, had some cause for satisfaction. True, his ill-fated “special military operation” in Ukraine had spectacularly failed in its initial stated aim of subsuming the country into a Greater Russia, resistance supposedly crumbling in days, with Volodymyr Zelensky skulking off into exile.
However, the Kremlin’s “meat-grinder” strategy has succeeded in occupying roughly a third of what was left of Ukrainian territory after the 2014 invasion. Russian troops were advancing, albeit at a glacial pace and an obscene cost in human lives.
The attacks on civilians, homes and energy infrastructure were helping to demoralise and exhaust the Ukrainians, brave as they were. Some 40,000 fresh troops were promised by North Korea – Kim Jong Un’s elite squads, according to reports. Mr Kim and Russia’s other allies in the Middle East were assisting with the sanctions-busting; and the Iranians and Syrians (and, to a lesser degree, the Houthis, Hezbollah and Hamas) shared Russia’s agenda.
Read the full article here:
Ukraine strikes in heart of Russia with drone attack 1,000km beyond frontline
Sunday 22 December 2024 21:00
Holly Evans
Ukraine brought the war into the heart of Russia on Saturday morning with drone attacks that local authorities said damaged residential buildings in the city of Kazan in the Tatarstan region, over 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) from the front line.
The press service of Tatarstan’s governor, Rustam Minnikhanov, said that eight drones attacked the city. Six hit residential buildings, one hit an industrial facility and one was shot down over a river, the statement said.
It comes as Moscow’s troops continue to slowly advance in eastern Ukraine, with their defence ministry stating they had taken control of the village of Kostiantynopolske in the Donetsk province.
Read the full article here:
The huge spike in gun range openings in a country that borders Russia
Sunday 22 December 2024 20:00
Holly Evans
Unsettled by Russia’s expansionism and emboldened by its accession to NATO, Finland is rallying to strengthen its national self-defense.
The popularity of weapons training in the Nordic country has soared in recent months. Few places tell the story of the rise in Finnish affinity for self-defense more than shooting ranges that are riding a boom of interest.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order for a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine — another big Russian neighbor — in February 2022 continues to resonate in many Finnish minds, and partially explains the ballistics binge.
Read the full article here:
Putin praises Boris Johnson’s hair as he peddles baseless Ukraine army theory
Sunday 22 December 2024 19:00
Holly Evans
Putin vows retaliation after Ukrainian drones struck Kazan
Sunday 22 December 2024 18:00
Holly Evans
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday vowed retaliation after Ukrainian drones the day before struck residential buildings in the city of Kazan, in the Tatarstan region over 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) from the front line.
Speaking to Tatarstan’s regional governor, Rustam Minnikhanov, Putin asserted that anyone attacking Russia has to reckon with Moscow inflicting “many times greater damage” in return, but did not elaborate.
His remarks were carried by Russian state news agencies.
Minnikhanov’s press service on Saturday said that eight drones attacked Kazan. Local authorities said there were no casualties.
Russia to start humanitarian supplies of electricity to breakaway Georgian region
Sunday 22 December 2024 17:20
Holly Evans
Russia will start humanitarian supplies of electricity to Abkhazia, a breakaway Georgian region backed by Moscow, from Monday, Russian news agencies quoted local officials as saying.
Electricity shortages, common in Abkhazia in the winter months, began in early December when low water levels at the Enguri hydroelectric dam forced an emergency shutdown.
The region appealed to Russia for assistance, saying it was facing a “humanitarian catastrophe” due to a critical shortage of power.
“In response to Abkhazia’s appeal, the Russian leadership has once again extended a helping hand to us and is starting to carry out a humanitarian transfer of electricity to the republic,” Interfax news agency cited Badra Gunba, Abkhazia’s self-styled president, as saying on Sunday.
Abkhazia broke from Georgia’s control in a war after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, during which hundreds of thousands of ethnic Georgians fled the region.
Moscow has long supported it and another breakaway Georgian region, South Ossetia, and recognised them as independent after winning a five-day war against Georgia in 2008.
Ukraine says Russian forces executed five POWs
Sunday 22 December 2024 16:30
Holly Evans
Russian forces executed five Ukrainian prisoners of war, Ukraine’s Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, said on Sunday.
Lubinets said on the Telegram messenger app that Russian troops shot the five unarmed soldiers after capturing them. He gave no details, but will report this fact to the UN.
“Russian war criminals who shoot Ukrainian prisoners of war should be brought before an international tribunal and punished with the most severe punishment provided for by law,” Lubinets said.
Russia did not immediately comment on the incident, but has previous denied committing war crimes.
Zelensky says Ukraine’s membership of NATO is ‘achievable’
Sunday 22 December 2024 15:45
Holly Evans
Ukraine’s membership of NATO is “achievable”, but Kyiv will have to fight to persuade allies to make it happen, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Ukrainian diplomats in a speech on Sunday.
Ukraine has repeatedly urged NATO to invite Kyiv to become a member. The Western military alliance has said Ukraine will join its ranks one day but has not set a date or issued an invitation.
Moscow has cited the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO as one of the principal justifications for its 2022 invasion. Kyiv says membership in the Western alliance’s mutual defence pact, or an equivalent form of security guarantee, would be crucial to any peace plan to ensure that Russia does not attack again
“We all understand that Ukraine’s invitation to NATO and membership in the alliance can only be a political decision,” Zelensky told diplomats at a gathering in Kyiv. “Alliance for Ukraine is achievable, but it is achievable only if we fight for this decision at all the necessary levels.”
Zelensky said allies needed to know what Ukraine can bring to NATO and how its membership in the alliance would stabilise global relations.
Last week Zelensky urged European countries to provide guarantees to protect Ukraine after the war with Russia ends and said Ukraine would ultimately need more protection through membership of the alliance.
42 Ukrainian drones intercepted by Russian forces overnight
Sunday 22 December 2024 14:25
Holly Evans
According to Ukraine’s Air Force, Russia launched 103 Iranian-made Shahed drones at its neighbor overnight into Sunday. Ukrainian air defense shot down 52 of the drones while another 44 failed to reach their targets, the force said in a statement, in a likely reference to electronic jamming.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday that its forces had intercepted 42 Ukrainian drones launched overnight at Russian territory.
According to the ministry, 20 of those were over the Oryol region, where the local governor said a blaze tore through the oil terminal.Separately, Russian forces have continued grinding forward in Ukraine’s northeast, in addition to eking out gains near the eastern town of Kurakhove.
On Sunday, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported that its troops had captured two northeastern settlements: Lozova in the Kharkiv region and Krasne in the Luhansk province. There was no immediate confirmation from Kyiv.
Two civilians killed in drone attack in Kherson region
Sunday 22 December 2024 13:47
Holly Evans
Two civilians died after Russia late on Saturday launched drones at Ukraine’s southern Kherson province, local Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin reported.
He said a man in his late 40s suffered fatal injuries after a Russian drone dropped explosives nearby. Hours later, a woman was found dead under rubble after another drone slammed into her house.In the Kharkiv region in the northeast, a Russian drone strike Sunday severely injured a 56-year-old man as he walked down a road in the city of Kupiansk, local Gov. Oleh Syniehubov reported. He said the man would need to have at least one limb amputated as a result, but gave no further detail.
In the Kyiv suburb of Brovary, debris from a Russian drone sparked a fire late on Saturday on the roof of a 25-story tower block, according to regional Gov. Ruslan Kravchenko. There were no immediate reports of any casualties.
Ukrainian drones hit a Russian fuel depot for the second time this month
Sunday 22 December 2024 13:01
Holly Evans
Ukrainian drones struck a major Russian fuel depot for the second time in just over a week on Sunday, according to a senior Russian regional official, as part of a “massive” cross-border attack on fuel and energy facilities that Kyiv says supply Moscow’s military.
The strikes came days after Russia launched sweeping attacks on Ukraine’s already battered energy grid, threatening to plunge thousands of homes into darkness as winter tightens its grip over the region, and as Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbor nears the three-year mark.
A fire broke out at the Stalnoy Kon oil terminal in Russia’s southern Oryol region, local Gov. Andrey Klychkov said in a post on the Telegram messaging app, adding Russian forces downed 20 drones targeting “fuel and energy infrastructure” in the province.
Russian independent news outlet Astra shared video of what it said was an explosion at the site, showing a massive orange blaze lighting up the night sky. While the clip could not be independently verified, it was later shared by a Ukrainian security official who described it as footage from Oryol.
According to Klychkov, the local governor, the fire was extinguished hours later and did not cause casualties or “significant” damage.
Russian central bank holds rates steady at 21% amid criticism from key business figures
Sunday 22 December 2024 11:35
Holly Evans
Russia’s central bank has left its benchmark interest rate at 21%, holding off on further increases as it struggles to snuff out inflation fueled by the government’s spending on the war against Ukraine.
The decision comes amid criticism from influential business figures, including tycoons close to the Kremlin, that high rates are putting the brakes on business activity and the economy.
The central bank said in a statement that credit conditions had tightened “more than envisaged” by the October rate hike that brought the benchmark to its current record level.
Read the full article here:
Ukraine's air defence downs 52 out of 103 Russian drones, air force says
Sunday 22 December 2024 10:15
Holly Evans
Ukraine’s air defences downed 52 of the 103 Russian drones launched overnight, the Ukrainian military said on Sunday.
The military said on Telegram that it had lost track of 44 drones, and another had left the territory of Ukraine to Belarus.
The military gave no information on the fate of the remaining drones.
However, they said that in Kherson, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Zhytomyr and Kyiv regions, private businesses and apartment buildings have been damaged by the Russian attack.
“Tentatively, without casualties,” the military added.
Two villages captured by Russian forces in Ukraine
Sunday 22 December 2024 09:32
Holly Evans
The Russian Defence Ministry said on Sunday that Russian forces had captured two villages in Ukraine - Lozova in Kharkiv region and Sontsivka in Donetsk region, Russian news agencies reported.
These battlefield reports have not been independently confirmed.
Warning North Korea can produce ballistic missiles for Russia ‘in months’
Sunday 22 December 2024 09:00
Athena Stavrou
North Korea has demonstrated that it could produce ballistic missiles and supply them to Russia for use against Ukraine in a matter of months, an expert said on Wednesday.
Jonah Leff told the U.N. Security Council that researchers on the ground examined remnants of four missiles from North Korea recovered in Ukraine in July and August, including one that had marks indicating it was produced in 2024.
“This is the first public evidence of missiles having been produced in North Korea and then used in Ukraine within a matter of months, not years,” he said.
Read the full article here:
42 drones downed by Russia overnight
Sunday 22 December 2024 08:01
Athena Stavrou
Moscow said it had downed 42 Ukrainian drones over five Russian regions overnight.
Twenty drones were shot down over the Oryol region, eight drones each were destroyed in the Rostov and Bryansk regions, five in the Kursk region and one over Krasnodar Krai, the ministry said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
One attack triggered a fire at a fuel infrastructure facility in the village of Stalnoi Kon, said Andrei Klychkov, the governor of Oryol.
“Fortunately, thanks to the quick response, the consequences of the attack were avoided - the fire was promptly localised and is now fully extinguished. There were no casualties or significant damage,” he said.
It was the second week in a row where fuel infrastructure facilities in Oryol have been attacked.
The heads of the Rostov and Bryansk regions said there were no casualties or damage after the latest drone attacks.
Two AP journalists in Ukraine and the Mideast break down the wars they covered in 2024
Sunday 22 December 2024 07:00
Holly Evans
For the world, 2024 was riven by — and in some ways defined by — conflict on two fronts.
The ripples after the previous year’s Hamas attacks in Israel left Gaza a shambles and tens of thousands dead, and an adjacent conflict between Israel and Hezbollah is playing out across the Lebanon landscape as the year ends.
A continent away, the Russia-Ukraine war, which began with Russia’s invasion in early 2022, rages on and evolves, claiming more casualties as it goes.
Read the full article here:
Moscow sends 113 drones into Ukraine
Sunday 22 December 2024 06:00
Stuti Mishra
Moscow sent 113 drones into Ukraine overnight into Saturday, Ukrainian officials said. According to Ukraine’s Air Force, 57 drones were shot down during the attacks.
A further 56 drones were “lost,” likely having been electronically jammed.
The governor of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said eight people were wounded Friday night in drone attacks on the regional capital, also called Kharkiv.
In the city of Zaporizhzhia, four people were wounded when a nine-story residential building was damaged by falling drone debris on Friday night, regional Gov. Ivan Fedorov said.
The one battle President Zelensky looks set to win
Sunday 22 December 2024 05:00
Holly Evans
Not so very long ago, Vladimir Putin, the would-be reincarnation of Joseph Stalin, had some cause for satisfaction. True, his ill-fated “special military operation” in Ukraine had spectacularly failed in its initial stated aim of subsuming the country into a Greater Russia, resistance supposedly crumbling in days, with Volodymyr Zelensky skulking off into exile.
However, the Kremlin’s “meat-grinder” strategy has succeeded in occupying roughly a third of what was left of Ukrainian territory after the 2014 invasion. Russian troops were advancing, albeit at a glacial pace and an obscene cost in human lives.
The attacks on civilians, homes and energy infrastructure were helping to demoralise and exhaust the Ukrainians, brave as they were. Some 40,000 fresh troops were promised by North Korea – Kim Jong Un’s elite squads, according to reports. Mr Kim and Russia’s other allies in the Middle East were assisting with the sanctions-busting; and the Iranians and Syrians (and, to a lesser degree, the Houthis, Hezbollah and Hamas) shared Russia’s agenda.
Read the full analysis:
Ukrainian drones strike deep inside Russian territory
Sunday 22 December 2024 04:11
Stuti Mishra
Ukraine brought the war into the heart of Russia Saturday morning with drone attacks that local authorities said damaged residential buildings in the city of Kazan in the Tatarstan region, over 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) from the front line.
The press service of Tatarstan's governor, Rustam Minnikhanov, said that eight drones attacked the city. Six hit residential buildings, one hit an industrial facility and one was shot down over a river, the statement said.
A video posted on local Telegram news channel Astra shows a drone flying into the upper floors of a high-rise building.
The attacks, which Ukraine didn't acknowledge in keeping with its security policy, come after a Ukrainian attack Friday on a town in Russia's Kursk border region using US-supplied missiles killed six people, including a child.
Zelensky admits Ukraine does not have military strength to reclaim lost territories from Russia
Sunday 22 December 2024 03:00
Holly Evans
Ukraine lacks the military capability to retake all the territories occupied by Russia since 2014, president Volodymyr Zelensky has acknowledged, as he urged the West to take stronger action to confront Moscow.
In an interview with the French newspaper Le Parisien, Mr Zelensky made it clear that Kyiv would not formally recognise Russian control over any Ukrainian territory.
“Legally, we cannot give up our territories. This is prohibited by the constitution,” the Ukrainian president said. “But let’s not use such big words. Russia actually controls part of our territory today.”
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