North Korean soldiers are being used as bait by Russian troops to lure out Ukrainian drones on the battlefield, a diary has revealed.
The last written notes of a North Korean soldier described how Pyongyang’s troops are ordered to stand within seven metres of Kyiv’s drones as covering soldiers try to shoot them down.
On one notebook page, a crude drawing shows a stickman soldier breaking cover to attract the attention of a drone, while his two comrades lie in wait to shoot it down.
“When the bait stands still, the drone will stop and it will be shot down,” the soldier wrote in scrawled handwriting, translated by The Wall Street Journal.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz has suggested a call between the US president-elect and Vladimir Putin was expected in the coming days or weeks.
“I do expect a call for, at least in the coming days and weeks. So, that would be a step and we’ll take it from there,” he said.
Key points
- North Korean soldiers ‘used as bait'
- Trump call with Putin expected soon, adviser Mike Waltz says
- Zelensky proposes North Korean prisoner swap
- Watch: Ukraine interrogates captured North Korean soldiers
- Solution to ending war is Ukraine joining Nato, says Boris Johnson
At least 300 North Korean troops killed
10:29
Alexander Butler
Hundreds of North Korean troops have been killed fighting against Ukraine over the last few months, according to South Korea’s intelligence agency.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) of South Korea said 300 of Pyongyang’s troops have been killed and another 2,700 wounded since joining Vladimir Putin’s forces last year.
Kim Jong Un has sent at least 11,000 soldiers to Russia since October to help the Russian military fight off Kyiv’s cross-border incursion into Kursk which began in August.
The “massive casualties” of North Korean soldiers was due to their “lack of understanding of modern warfare” and “useless” tactic of shooting at long-range drones, the NIS said.
North Korean soldiers ‘used as bait'
09:18
Alexander Butler
North Korean soldiers are being used as bait by Russian troops to lure out Ukrainian drones on the battlefield, a diary has revealed.
The last written notes of a North Korean soldier described how Pyongyang’s troops are ordered to stand within seven metres of Kyiv’s drones as covering soldiers try to shoot them down.
On one notebook page, a crude drawing shows a stickman soldier breaking cover to attract the attention of a drone, while his two comrades lie in wait to shoot it down.
“When the bait stands still, the drone will stop and it will be shot down,” the soldier wrote in scrawled handwriting, translated by The Wall Street Journal.
Watch: North Korean soldiers claim they didn't know they we being sent to Ukraine in interrogation
08:59
Alexander Butler
Ukraine tried to attack TurkStream pipeline infrastructure in southern Russia, Moscow says
08:18
Jabed Ahmed
Russia said on Monday it had downed nine Ukrainian drones that tried to attack part of the infrastructure of the TurkStream gas pipeline, through which Russian gas flows to Turkey and Europe.
The Russian defence ministry said the attack was aimed against a compressor station in the Krasnodar region of southern Russia, but the facility was working normally and there were no casualties.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
TurkStream and Blue Stream, which run under the Black Sea to Turkey, are Russia's last routes for supplying pipeline gas to Europe, after Ukraine at the start of the year refused to renew a five-year transit deal that had allowed Russia to keep pumping gas across its territory despite the war between the two neighbours.
The Russian statement said falling fragments from one drone had caused minor damage to the building and equipment of a gas metering station at the compressor, but emergency teams had quickly repaired it.
Trump call with Putin expected soon, Trump adviser says
07:34
Arpan Rai
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump are expected to speak in the coming days or weeks, a top Trump adviser said.
Mr Trump, who will return as US president next week, styles himself as a master dealmaker and has vowed to swiftly end the war in Ukraine but not set out how he might achieve that.
Answering a question about contacts between Mr Trump and Mr Putin, US Congressman Mike Waltz, the incoming national security adviser, said: “I do expect a call for, at least in the coming days and weeks. So, that would be a step and we’ll take it from there.” He, however, said it was unrealistic to aim to expel Russian soldiers from every inch of Ukrainian territory.
He added that the war had become a World War One-style “meat grinder of people and resources” with “World War Three consequences”, according to ABC.
“Everybody knows that this has to end somehow diplomatically,” Mr Waltz, a Trump loyalist who also served in the National Guard as a colonel, told ABC.
“I just don’t think it’s realistic to say we’re going to expel every Russian from every inch of Ukrainian soil, even Crimea. President Trump has acknowledged that reality, and I think it’s been a huge step forward that the entire world is acknowledging that reality. Now let’s move forward.”
Latest pictures from Ukraine
07:00
Athena Stavrou
Zelensky ready to exchange North Korean soldiers for Ukrainian prisoners of war
06:42
Arpan Rai
Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv was ready to return the North Korean soldiers that his forces allegedly captured last week if Kim Jong Un could facilitate their exchange for Ukrainian prisoners of war.
“Ukraine is ready to hand over Kim Jong Un’s soldiers to him if he can organise their exchange for our warriors who are being held captive in Russia,” Mr Zelensky said on Sunday.
“In addition to the first captured soldiers from North Korea, there will undoubtedly be more. It’s only a matter of time before our troops manage to capture others.”
British troops should join post-war peacekeeping force in Ukraine, former defence ministers say
06:29
Arpan Rai
Two former UK defence secretaries have joined calls for British troops to form part of a peacekeeping force in a post-war Ukraine.
Boris Johnson, who was prime minister when Vladimir Putin launched Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, is among those to have recently suggested that British troops should form part of a European force sent to guard Ukraine’s border under any future ceasefire with Russia.
France’s Emmanuel Macron reportedly travelled to Warsaw in December to discuss the idea with Donald Tusk, as Europe braces for Donald Trump’s incoming US administration to potentially upend Western support for Kyiv. But Poland’s PM was quick to clarify that no such plans were on the table.
North Korean soldiers captured in Ukraine haven’t shown desire to defect
06:29
Arpan Rai
Two North Korean soldiers who were captured by Ukrainian forces while fighting alongside Russian forces in Russia’s Kursk border region haven’t expressed a desire to seek asylum in South Korea, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers said today.
In a closed-door briefing at South Korea’s National Assembly, the National Intelligence Service confirmed its participation in the questioning of the North Korean soldiers by Ukrainian authorities. The agency said the soldiers haven’t expressed a request to resettle in South Korea, according to two lawmakers who attended the meeting.
A video released by Ukrainian government indicated that at least one of the captured soldiers expressed a desire to remain in Ukraine.
Koo Byoungsam, spokesperson of South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said facilitating the asylum of the North Korean soldiers would require “legal reviews, including on international law, and consultations with related nations.”“There’s nothing we can say at the current stage,” Mr Koo said.
The agency said memos found on dead North Korean soldiers indicated that they had been ordered to die by suicide before being captured. The agency said one North Korean soldier, facing the threat of being captured by Ukrainian forces, shouted “General Kim Jong Un” and tried to detonate a hand grenade before he was shot and killed.
Ukraine captures North Korean POWs as Russia advances in Donetsk
06:03
Athena Stavrou
North Korean soldiers asked to commit suicide to evade capture, says South Korean intelligence
05:52
Arpan Rai
North Korean authorities reportedly called for the country’s troops to “self destruct” to evade capture, Lee Seong-kweun, a lawmaker on the South Korean parliament intelligence committee, said citing the National Intelligence Service (NIS).
“It was also found in the memos carried by those killed that North Korean authorities emphasised self-destruction and suicide before capture, and that soldiers vaguely expect to join the Workers’ Party (of North Korea) or be pardoned,” Mr Lee said.
Captured North Korean soldiers had not shown an intention to come to South Korea, though South Korea would cooperate with Ukraine if there was a request, Yonhap news agency reported also reported citing NIS.
Photos: Shelling and missile attacks inside Donetsk, Ukraine
05:45
Arpan Rai
Ukraine captures first North Korean prisoners of war
05:14
Arpan Rai
Ukraine has captured two North Korean soldiers and taken them prisoner, transporting them to Kyiv for questioning in what the country’s security services say is “irrefutable evidence” of Pyongyang’s involvement in Russia’s war.
Both soldiers were captured on 9 January in the Russian border region of Kursk, Kyiv said.
Volodymyr Zelensky posted pictures of the two, saying “the world needs to know the truth about what is happening”.
Ukraine’s security service, known as the SBU, said one of the two had fake Russian identification documents. A third North Korean soldier was captured last month but died from injuries.
Taking North Korean soldiers alive ‘not easy,’ Zelensky says
05:06
Athena Stavrou
So far, Ukrainian troops have managed to capture alive only two North Korean soldiers fighting with invading Russian forces due to Pyongyang’s no surrender policy.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said taking North Korean soldiers alive “was not easy” because of efforts by Pyongyang to conceal the North Koreans’ presence and avoid their interrogation.
They avoid surrendering at all costs, says Mr Zelensky.
Analysts explain that this may be due to internal North Korean propaganda which portrays capture as disgrace.
“To be captured alive is considered a betrayal of the country, the leader and everything they stand for,” said Seongmin Lee of the Human Rights Foundation in New York who defected from North Korea in 2009.
“Because of the disgrace associated with the capitulation, heroic soldiers are supposed to save the last of their bullets to kill themselves,” Mr Lee said.
Russian strike on Kherson leaves thousands without power
04:35
Arpan Rai
About 23,000 households were left without electricity after Russian shelling of Kherson in southern Ukraine damaged power equipment in the city, the local military administration said yesterday.
The attack targeted the Dniprovskiy district along the Dnipro River, an area of Kherson that is regularly shelled by Russian troops on the opposite bank.
Kherson’s governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said Kherson city and around 50 settlements in the surrounding region had been shelled by Russian troops over the past 24 hours.
“The Russian military shelled social infrastructure and residential areas of the region’s settlements, in particular, damaging 2 multi-storey buildings and 8 private houses,” Mr Prokudin said on Telegram.
North Korean troop casualties exceed 3,000 in Ukraine, Seoul says
04:18
Arpan Rai
North Korean troop fatalities and injuries in Ukraine have likely exceeded 3,000, including about 300 deaths and 2,700 injuries, a South Korean lawmaker briefed by the country’s spy agency said today.
North Korean authorities appear to have called for its troops to commit suicide by blowing themselves up to evade capture, the lawmaker said citing the National Intelligence Service (NIS).
Captured North Korean soldiers had not shown an intention to come to South Korea, though South Korea would cooperate with Ukraine if there was a request, Yonhap news agency also reported, citing NIS.
Britain must learn from Ukraine and use AI for warfare, MPs say
04:04
Athena Stavrou
Watch: Ukraine interrogates captured North Korean soldiers in this video
03:46
Arpan Rai
Volodymyr Zelensky has said North Korea can take its soldiers from Kyiv in a prisoner swap for Ukrainian soldiers held inside Russia.
“Ukraine is ready to hand over Kim Jong Un’s soldiers to him if he can organize their exchange for our warriors who are being held captive in Russia,” he said.
Watch the video here:
In addition to the first captured soldiers from North Korea, there will undoubtedly be more. It’s only a matter of time before our troops manage to capture others. There should be no doubt left in the world that the Russian army is dependent on military assistance from North… pic.twitter.com/4RyCfUoHoC
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) January 12, 2025
Ukraine interrogates captured North Korean soldiers
03:27
Arpan Rai
Volodymyr Zelensky has posted a short video showing the interrogation of two men who are presented as North Korean soldiers.
The video shows one of the captured North Korean soldier lying on a bed with bandaged hands, while the other is sitting with a bandage on his jaw.
One of the men said through an interpreter that he did not know he was fighting against Ukraine and had been told he was on a training exercise.
The North Korean soldier claimed he hid in a shelter during the offensive and was found a couple of days later. He said that if he was ordered to return to North Korea, he would, but that he was ready to stay in Ukraine if given the chance.
“One of them (soldiers) expressed a desire to stay in Ukraine, the other to return to Korea,” Mr Zelensky said in a televised statement.
The Ukrainian president said that for North Korean soldiers who did not wish to return home, there may be other options available and “those who express a desire to bring peace closer by spreading the truth about this war in the Korean (language) will be given that opportunity.”
Pictured: Ukrainian soldiers fire towards Russian troops
02:58
Athena Stavrou
Ready to swap captured North Koreans for Ukrainians held in Russia, says Zelensky
02:49
Arpan Rai
Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv is ready to hand over North Korean soldiers to their leader Kim Jong Un if he can facilitate their exchange for Ukrainians held captive in Russia.
“Ukraine is ready to hand over Kim Jong Un’s soldiers to him if he can organise their exchange for our warriors who are being held captive in Russia,” Mr Zelensky said.
“In addition to the first captured soldiers from North Korea, there will undoubtedly be more. It’s only a matter of time before our troops manage to capture others,” Mr Zelensky said.
On Saturday, the Ukrainian president said his forces have captured two North Koreans in Russia’s Kursk region. This is the first time Ukraine has announced the capture of North Korean soldiers alive since their entry into the nearly three-year-old war last autumn.
Ukrainian and Western assessments say that some 11,000 troops from Russia’s ally North Korea have been deployed in the Kursk region to support Moscow’s forces.
Trump says meeting with Putin being planned
01:20
Athena Stavrou
Solution to ending war is Ukraine joining Nato, says Boris Johnson
Sunday 12 January 2025 23:55
Athena Stavrou
Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson says the solution to ending the war in Ukraine is for the country to join Nato.
Speaking to the Lithuanian news platform Delfi, Mr Johnson said the West must convey to Russian president Vladimir Putin that “Russia is no longer an empire.”
“What Putin is doing is archaic and barbaric, and he needs to understand that Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania – none of these countries are part of the Russian imperium anymore, and nor is Ukraine. It’s over,” the former UK prime minister said, adding: “No more empire, Vladimir, you f**king idiot!”
“I don’t hear anyone saying that when this catastrophe is over, the solution should be Ukraine’s membership in NATO. People have stopped talking about it. And I think it’s a big loss because the West is retreating again,” he said.
Ukraine-Russia war map: Where are Putin’s forces making gains?
Sunday 12 January 2025 22:21
Athena Stavrou
Afghanistan was largest importer of Russian flour in 2024 - report
Sunday 12 January 2025 20:54
Athena Stavrou
Taliban-led Afghanistan emerged as the largest importer of flour from Russia in 2024, according to a new report by the Kremlin’s state agricultural export agency Agroexport.
The report notes that Afghanistan’s purchases doubled last year to about $80 million compared to numbers in 2023.
This is in line with the Taliban’s growing ties with Russia, including Moscow’s steps to officially recognise the regime.
Ukrainian family learns son is alive after nearly 3 years of captivity
Sunday 12 January 2025 19:30
Athena Stavrou
Zelensky says Ukraine captured two North Korean soldiers in Kursk - ICYMI
Sunday 12 January 2025 18:20
Athena Stavrou
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the country’s military has captured two North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region of Russia, adding that they had survived and were communicating with the Security Service of Ukraine.
“As with all prisoners of war, these two North Korean soldiers are receiving the necessary medical assistance,” Zelensky said on X.
Ukraine’s inflation rose to 12 per cent in 2024 – report
Sunday 12 January 2025 17:00
Athena Stavrou
Inflation in Ukraine rose to 12 per cent in 2024, Ukraine’s statistics service Derzhstat has said, considerably higher than the central bank’s most recent estimates in November.
The country’s economy has been hit hard by the Russian invasion with inflation skyrocketing to over 25 per cent in 2022, up from 10 per cent in 2021.
The rate has since steadied, and Ukraine’s National Bank estimated the country would end 2024 at just under 10 per cent. But the new estimates suggest that the target has been missed.
The increasing cost of groceries and electricity have been pointed to as key drivers of inflation.
By effectively threatening to invade a Nato nation – and steal it – Trump has done Europe a favour
Sunday 12 January 2025 16:18
Athena Stavrou
This week, the president-elect refused to rule out using economic or military force to seize the Panama Canal and (or) wrestle Greenland away from Denmark, writes world affairs editor Sam Kiley.
He’s taught Europe an important lesson:
Thousands without power after Russian strike on Ukraine's Kherson, officials say
Sunday 12 January 2025 15:29
Tom Watling
About 23,000 households were left without electricity after Russian shelling of Kherson in southern Ukraine damaged power equipment in the city, the local military administration said on Sunday.
The attack targeted the Dniprovskiy district along the Dnipro River, an area of Kherson that is regularly shelled by Russian troops on the opposite bank.
Kherson’s governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said Kherson city and around 50 settlements in the surrounding region had been shelled by Russian troops over the past 24 hours.
“The Russian military shelled social infrastructure and residential areas of the region’s settlements, in particular, damaging 2 multi-storey buildings and 8 private houses,” Prokudin said on Telegram.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr earlier on Sunday called on allies to honour their promises to supply Ukraine with weapons, including systems to counter Russian air attacks.
Ukraine-Russia war map: Where are Putin’s forces making gains on the frontline as 2025 begins?
Sunday 12 January 2025 14:45
Tom Watling
Zelensky calls on allies to honour promises on arms supplies to Ukraine
Sunday 12 January 2025 14:09
Tom Watling
Ukraine‘s President Volodymyr Zelensky called on allies on Sunday to honour all promises to supply Ukraine with weapons, including those to counter Russian air attacks.
Zelensky said that over the past week Russian forces had launched hundreds of strikes on Ukraine and nearly 700 aerial bombs and over 600 attack drones were used.
Ukrainian air defences downed 60 out of 94 drones launched by Russia overnight, the air force said on Sunday. It said that 34 drones were “lost”, in reference to Ukraine‘s use of electronic warfare to redirect Russian drones.
“Every week, the Russian war continues only because the Russian army retains its ability to terrorise Ukraine and exploit its superiority in the sky,” Zelensky said on the Telegram messaging app.
He called on Ukraine‘s allies to fulfil agreements already made.
“The decisions made at the Nato summit in Washington, as well as those adopted during the Ramstein meetings regarding air defences for Ukraine, have still not been fully implemented,” Zelensky said.
Ukraine‘s leader this week said he had discussed with partners and the United States the possibility of granting Ukrainelicenses to produce air defence systems and missiles.
Mapped: Russia’s advance in Donetsk
Sunday 12 January 2025 13:41
Tom Watling
Britain must learn from Ukraine and use AI for warfare, MPs say
Sunday 12 January 2025 13:00
Tom Watling
Mapped: Ukraine’s offensive in Kursk
Sunday 12 January 2025 12:18
Tom Watling
Trump says meeting with Putin being planned
Sunday 12 January 2025 11:38
Tom Watling
Mapped: Ukraine-Russia frontline
Sunday 12 January 2025 11:06
Tom Watling
Russia claims control of village in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region
Sunday 12 January 2025 10:33
Tom Watling
Russian troops claim to have taken a village in eastern Ukraine.
The Russian defence ministry reported their forces had seized the village of Yantarne in the Donetsk region. The village is located four miles south of the recently captured Kurakhove and is in the path of advancing troops.
The Kremlin often prematurely claims control of towns and cities in Ukraine.
DeepState, a Ukrainian war tracker that maps the frontline and is known to have close ties to the military, recorded the town of Yantarne as not under Russian control.
But Ukrainian military blogger Bohdan Miroshnikov claimed yesterday that Russian forces crossed the Sukhi Yaly river to the south of the village and had approached its outskirts.
He claimed that the question of withdrawing forces from that wider area would start being considered soon.
Ukraine captures North Korean POWs as Russia advances in Donetsk
Sunday 12 January 2025 10:00
Tom Watling
Ukraine's air force says it downed 60 Russian drones launched overnight
Sunday 12 January 2025 09:31
Tom Watling
Ukrainian air defences downed 60 out of 94 drones launched by Russia overnight, the air force said on Sunday.
It said that 34 drones were “lost”, in reference to Ukraine‘s use of electronic warfare to redirect Russian drones.
