North Korea has vowed to back Russia until it achieves victory in its war against Ukraine.
“Our traditional, historically friendly relations, which have travelled the tested path of history, today ... are rising to a new level of relations of invincible military comradeship,” Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said on Friday at talks in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, as she praised Vladimir Putin’s “wise leadership” in the invasion.
It came as US secretary of state Antony Blinken warned North Korean troops fighting inside the Russian President’s “meat grinder” war would be a legitimate military target.
The top US diplomat claimed that the North Korean soldiers will enter the war in Ukraine in the “coming days” as he confirmed there are 10,000 already in Russia, including as many as 8,000 in the Kursk region.
Meanwhile, Russia unleashed an overnight drone attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv that lasted into late morning and wounded at least one person, city officials said on Saturday.
Debris from downed drones struck six city districts, wounding a police officer, damaging residential buildings and starting fires, according to city military administrator Serhiy Popko.
Key Points
- North Korea says it will back Russia until it ‘achieves a great victory’ in Ukraine
- North Koreans training in ‘basic infantry operations’ in Ukraine, says Blinken
- At least two injured as Russian drone attack launched on Kyiv
- Senior officer killed and 40 injured in Kharkiv missile strike
Report: Japan and EU announce a security and defense partnership as regional tensions rise
12:00
Alex Croft
Japan and the European Union announced a security and defense partnership on Friday as they seek to step up military ties, including joint exercises and exchanges between their defense industries, amid growing tensions with China, North Korea and Russia.
It is the first security partnership that the EU has concluded with an Indo-Pacific country, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters.
Kim Jong Un ‘taking a big gamble’, analyst says
11:05
Alex Croft
Large North Korean troop casualties in Ukraine or Russia would be a major political blow for the country’s 40-year-old ruler, Kim Jong Un.
But experts say Mr Kim may see this as a way to get much needed foreign currency and security support from Russia in return for joining the war.
“Kim Jong Un is taking a big gamble. If there are no large casualty numbers, he will get what he wants to some extent. But things will change a lot if many of his soldiers die in battle,” Ahn Chan-il, a former North Korean army first lieutenant who leads the World Institute for North Korean Studies, told the Associated Press.
In pictures: Kyiv reels from drone strike
10:08
Alex Croft
UPDATE: Russia targets Kyiv in hours-long drone attack
09:12
Tara Cobham
Russia unleashed an overnight drone attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv that lasted into late morning and wounded at least one person, city officials said on Saturday.
Debris from downed drones struck six city districts, wounding a police officer, damaging residential buildings and starting fires, according to city military administrator Serhiy Popko.
Mayor Vitalii Klitschko had earlier reported that two people had been injured.
"Another night. Another air-raid alert. Another drone attack. The armed forces of the Russian Federation attacked Kyiv again according to their old and familiar tactics," Popko wrote on social media.
He said all the drones aimed at Kyiv had been shot down, but warned that others currently located in airspace outside the city could turn toward the capital.
Reuters correspondents reported hearing explosions in and around the city during an air-raid alert that lasted more than five hours.
Russia has carried out regular airstrikes on Ukrainian towns and cities behind the front lines of the war which began when Russia invaded its neighbour in February 2022.
Kyiv's military said on Friday that Moscow's forces had launched more than 2,000 drones at civilian and military targets across Ukraine in October alone.
Russia has denied aiming at civilians and said power facilities are legitimate targets when they are part of Ukrainian military infrastructure.
Fires break out in several districts in Kyiv amid Russian drone attack, says Ukrainian official
08:22
Tara Cobham
Fires have broken out in several districts in Kyiv as the Ukrainian capital was attacked with Russian drones, the advisor to Ukraine’s internal affairs minister has said.
Anton Gerashchenko said in a post on X on Saturday morning: “Kyiv is under a Russian drone attack this morning.
“Explosions heard in the city. Fires in several districts.”
Kyiv is under a Russian drone attack this morning.
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) November 2, 2024
Explosions heard in the city. Fires in several districts. pic.twitter.com/Xzcn5V0qT2
Anti-aircraft fire, explosions and buzzing of kamikaze drones heard in Kyiv
08:07
Tara Cobham
Anti-aircraft fire, explosions and the buzzing of kamikaze drones have been heard in Kyiv.
A journalist from the Kyiv Independent reported a “pretty loud Saturday morning” in the Ukrainian capital.
A pretty loud Saturday morning here in Kyiv — lots of anti-aircraft fire, some explosions, and the buzzing of kamikaze drones flying across the city.
— Chris York (@ChrisDYork) November 2, 2024
At least two injured as Russian drone attack launched on Kyiv
07:44
Tara Cobham
At least two people were wounded in an overnight Russian drone strike on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, city officials said on Saturday.
Debris from downed drones struck three city districts, damaging residential buildings and starting fires, according to military administrator Serhiy Popko.
The attack was still ongoing on Saturday morning, authorities said, with Reuters correspondents reporting hearing explosions in and around the city.
Russia has carried out regular airstrikes on Ukrainian towns and cities behind the front lines of the war which began when Russia invaded its neighbour in February 2022.
Kyiv's military said on Friday that Moscow's forces had launched more than 2,000 drones at civilian and military targets across Ukraine in October alone.
Russia has denied aiming at civilians and said power facilities are legitimate targets when they are part of Ukrainian military infrastructure.
Uncertainty in Kyiv over possible Trump re-election
07:00
Andy Gregory
A senior European diplomat based in Kyiv has told Reuters that Ukrainian officials are less worried about Donald Trump potentially re-entering the White House than some might expect, in part because Ukraine was losing territory even with the military and economic support it receives.
“At least Trump might shake things up a bit,” the diplomat said.
But the uncertainty over what Trump would do to try to end the war is causing considerable unease, with Kyiv-based political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko saying: “The main problem is that Trump promises to initiate negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine immediately after his victory, but we do not know on what terms.”
Kremlin says it has nothing more to say about Western assertions on North Korean troops
06:37
Shweta Sharma
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said he had “nothing to add to what has already been said” about Western statements that North Korea has sent thousands of troops to Russia to help in its war against Ukraine.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Thursday that Pyongyang had 10,000 troops in Russia, including 8,000 in its western Kursk region that he said were expected to go into combat against Ukraine in the coming days.
Russia has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Korean soldiers on its territory.
North Koreans training in ‘basic infantry operations’ in Ukraine, says Blinken
06:00
Andy Gregory
Russia has been training North Korean soldiers in artillery, drones and “basic infantry operations, including trench clearing, indicating that they fully intend to use these forces in front line operations,” US secretary of state Antony Blinken said.
North Korea’s efforts to tighten its relationship with Russia has raised concerns around the world about how that may expand the war in Ukraine and what Russian military aid will be delivered in exchange.
It’s become a key topic as US and South Korean leaders met this week in Washington, fuelling concerns that the presence of those soldiers will further destabilise the Asia-Pacific region and broaden Moscow’s war on Ukraine.
South Korea considering all options for aiding Ukraine
05:37
Shweta Sharma
South Korean foreign minister Cho Tae-yul said all possible scenarios were under consideration over the possibility of Seoul sending weapons to Ukraine in response to North Korea’s aiding Russia.
Mr Cho, speaking through an interpreter, told a press conference in Ottawa that Seoul would be watching the level of participation by North Korean troops in Russia and what Pyongyang received from Moscow in return.
The United States said on Thursday that it expected North Korean troops in Russia’s Kursk region to enter the fight against Ukraine in the coming days. Washington says there are 10,000 North Korean troops in Russia.
South Korea has provided non-lethal aid to Ukraine, including mine clearance equipment, but so far has resisted Kyiv’s requests for weapons.
“All possible scenarios are under consideration,” Mr Cho said when asked whether Seoul might send arms to Ukraine.
“Specifically, we will be watching the level of the (North Korean) forces’ participation in the war, and what will be the quid pro quo that North Korea will be receiving from Russia. We will take all those (factors) into consideration before making specific decisions,” he said.
Russia says it is unhappy with Turkish arms supplies to Ukraine
05:00
Andy Gregory
Russia is “surprised” that Turkey continues to supply Ukraine with weapons while trying to act as a mediator in the conflict between the two countries, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told the Hurriyet newspaper.
“Turkish weapons are used by the Ukrainian armed forces to kill Russian military personnel and civilians,” Mr Lavrov said in an interview.
“This situation cannot but cause surprise, given the Turkish government’s statements that it is ready to provide mediation services,” he said.
Senior officer killed and 40 injured in Kharkiv missile strike
04:30
Shweta Sharma
A senior police officer was killed and at least 40 others were injured after a Russian missile strike on Kharkiv, Ukraine‘s second largest city, the prosecutor general’s office said.
At least 30 police officers, nine civilians and a rescue worker were among the injured in the targeted strike at a police station in the late afternoon attack, the office said on the Telegram messaging app.
Police said S-400 missiles had been deployed by Russian forces and showed pictures of rescue workers sifting through mounds of rubble with the help of floodlights.
Oleh Syniehubov, governor of Kharkiv region in Ukraine’s northeast, said some injured officers were in serious condition. He said an attack on the city earlier in the day had damaged a multi-storey apartment bloc and several private houses.
A Russian guided bomb struck a multi-storey residence on Wednesday in Kharkiv, killing three people.
Syniehubov also said a Russian guided bomb had struck a five-storey apartment building in the city of Kupiansk, further east, injuring two people.
Further west, in the city of Sumy, prosecutors said a drone attack on a multi-storey apartment building injured five.
Kharkiv remained in Ukrainian hands throughout the initial unsuccessful advance by Russian forces on the capital, Kyiv, after their February 2022 invasion. The city has since remained a frequent target of Russian air strikes.
In photos: Russian bomb hits residential building in Ukraine's 2nd largest city, killing 12-year-old boy
04:00
Andy Gregory
North Korea says it will back Russia until it ‘achieves a great victory’ in Ukraine
03:51
Shweta Sharma
The North Korean foreign minister, Choe Son Hui, arrived in Russia on Friday and vowed to back Moscow in its war against Ukraine until it “achieves a great victory”.
In talks with Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, she said North Korea had no doubt that Russia will succeed in Ukraine under Vladimir Putin’s “wise leadership”.
Russia will “achieve a great victory in their sacred struggle to protect the sovereign rights and security interests”, she said.
Mr Lavrov acknowledged “very close contacts” have been established between Russian and North Korean militaries.
He said Moscow was “deeply grateful to our Korean friends for their principled position regarding the events that have now unfolded in Ukraine”.
He added that their ties “have reached an unprecedented high level over the past few years,” and proposed discussing the implementation of the strategic partnership agreement the two nations signed earlier this year.
VOICES: Will David Lammy’s trip to Beijing fix the UK’s China problem?
03:00
Andy Gregory
The foreign secretary’s unexpectedly early visit risks exposing the limits of the UK’s influence on the world stage, writes columnist Mary Dejevsky:
Ukraine’s Zelensky calls on Western allies to stop watching and start acting on North Korea
02:51
Shweta Sharma
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky called on Ukraine’s allies to stop “watching” and take action over the presence of North Korean troops in Russia before they start confronting his country in combat.
Mr Zelensky, in a video posted on Telegram, said North Korea had made progress in its military capability, missile deployment and weapons production and “now unfortunately they will learn modern warfare”.
“The first thousands of soldiers from North Korea are near the Ukrainian border. Ukrainians will be forced to defend themselves against them,” he said. “And the world will watch again.”
Mr Zelensky said Ukraine had pinpointed every location where North Korean soldiers were posted in Russia. But Kyiv’s Western allies, he said, had not supplied the long-range weapons needed to strike them.
“But instead of such necessary long-range capability, America watches, Britain watches, Germany watches...,” he said.
“Everyone in the world who truly wants the Russian war against Ukraine not to expand....must not just watch. They must act. Words about the inadmissibility of escalation and expansion of war must be matched with actions.”
The slick three-minute video interspersed his comments with images of North Korea’s soldiers and missile launches as well as images of the war and the United Nations.
The video follows an interview with South Korea’s KBS television on Thursday in which Mr Zelensky blasted what he described as his allies’ “zero” response to Russia’s deployment of North Korean troops.
Russia claims UK using Black Sea corridor to supply Ukraine with arms
02:00
Andy Gregory
Russia has claimed Britain is using a Black Sea grain corridor to deliver arms to Ukraine, after denying London’s allegations that Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports had disrupted crucial grain supplies for other countries.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said last week that an increase in Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Black Sea ports was delaying vital aid reaching the Palestinians and stopping crucial grain supplies from being delivered to the global south.
The United Nations said last week that Russian attacks on Ukrainian Black Sea ports had damaged six civilian vessels as well as grain infrastructure since 1 September, calling the ramp-up in strikes “distressing”.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday that Starmer’s allegations that Moscow was damaging global food security with such strikes were wide of the mark.
“Such baseless yet thunderous outrage from London once again confirms just the opposite: the direct involvement of the UK in supplying arms to the Kiev regime using the Black Sea sea corridor,” she alleged in a press briefing.
Zakharova referred to what she said was recent video evidence concerning the port of Yuzhny, in Ukraine’s Odesa region, and purported arms supplies published by Russia’s Ministry of Defence.
Her claims could not be independently verified and there was no immediate response to them from London.
North Korea boasts of its new long-range missile targeting the US
01:00
Andy Gregory
Trump claims those considering him a ‘friend of Russia’ are ‘sick'
Friday 1 November 2024 23:59
Andy Gregory
US presidential candidate Donald Trump has claimed those who consider him “a friend of Russia” are “sick”, amid fears over Washington’s backing for Ukraine should he re-enter the White House after next week’s vote.
Speaking to right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson, who in February interviewed Vladimir Putin and filmed a bizarre segment praising Russian supermarkets while in Moscow, Mr Trump said: “They love to say that I was a friend of Russia. I worked for Russia, I was a Russian spy – these people are sick.”
Video report: Russia fines Google $2.5 decillion (that’s 2.5 trillion trillion trillion dollars)
Friday 1 November 2024 23:00
Andy Gregory
North Korean soldiers will likely be paid up to $2,400 for year’s fighting in Ukraine
Friday 1 November 2024 22:00
Andy Gregory
Despite a gradual economic recovery in North Korean over the past 30 years, defectors say the average monthly wage for ordinary North Korean workers and soldiers is less than $1.
They say many people engage in capitalist market activities to make a living because the country’s state rationing system remains largely broken.
Russia is expected to pay all the costs related to the deployment of North Korean troops, including their wages, which observers estimate will be at least $2,000 per month for each person.
Around 90 to 95 per cent of their stipends will likely go to Mr Kim’s coffers, and the rest to the soldiers. This means one year of service in Russia would earn a North Korean soldier $1,200 to $2,400. That's big enough to prompt many young soldiers to volunteer for risky Russian tours, former soldiers say.
Kim Jong Un ‘taking a big gamble’, analyst says
Friday 1 November 2024 21:00
Andy Gregory
Large North Korean troop casualties in Ukraine or Russia would be a major political blow for the country’s 40-year-old ruler, Kim Jong Un.
But experts say Mr Kim may see this as a way to get much needed foreign currency and security support from Russia in return for joining the war.
“Kim Jong Un is taking a big gamble. If there are no large casualty numbers, he will get what he wants to some extent. But things will change a lot if many of his soldiers die in battle,” Ahn Chan-il, a former North Korean army first lieutenant who leads the World Institute for North Korean Studies, told the Associated Press.
Former North Korean soldiers on why troops will volunteer to fight in Ukraine
Friday 1 November 2024 20:00
Andy Gregory
The thousands of young soldiers North Korea has sent to Russia, reportedly to help fight against Ukraine, are mostly elite special forces, but that hasn’t stopped speculation they’ll be slaughtered because they have no combat experience, no familiarity with the terrain and will likely be dropped onto the most ferocious battlefields.
That may be true, and soon. Observers say the troops are already arriving at the front. From the North Korean perspective, however, these soldiers might not be as miserable as outsiders think.
They may, in fact, view their Russian tour with pride and as a rare chance to make good money, see a foreign country for the first time, and win preferred treatment for their families back home, according to former North Korean soldiers.
Why are North Koreans troops in Ukraine?
Friday 1 November 2024 19:00
Andy Gregory
The Pentagon has said that North Korea dispatched 10,000 troops to Russia, with some of them believed to be heading to the Kursk border to join Vladimir Putin’s forces in their invasion of Ukraine amid the biggest conflict Europe has seen since the Second World War.
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said some North Korean soldiers have already moved closer to Ukraine and were believed to be heading for the Kursk border region. The Russian forces are facing difficulty in pushing back Ukraine’s cross-border incursion launched on 6 August.
This came within hours of Nato secretary general Mark Rutte confirming recent Ukrainian intelligence reports of the presence of North Korean military units deployed to Kursk near the Ukrainian border.
Russia advancing in Ukraine’s east, Western analysts say
Friday 1 November 2024 18:10
Andy Gregory
In Ukraine’s east, Russia’s forces have recently advanced near Kupyansk, Svatove, Pokrovsk, Kurakhove, and Vuhledar, according to the US-based Institute for the Study of War.
Ukrainian forces recently regained lost positions near Kurakhove, analysts said.
Putin uninterested in Ukraine ceasefire, analysts say
Friday 1 November 2024 17:40
Andy Gregory
Following his first conversation with Vladimir Putin in more than two years, Serbian president Alexander Vucic told Bloomberg that he brought up the subject of a ceasefire in Ukraine with the Russian leader.
Mr Putin is said to have replied that Russia will fulfill all the goals of its “special miliary operation” in Ukraine.
The US-based Institute of the Study of War think-tank said: “Vladimir Putin continues to communicate that he is uninterested in a negotiated ceasefire and is committed to achieving his goal of destroying Ukrainian statehood.”
It added: “A negotiated ceasefire on current lines and under current circumstances will only benefit Russia and will afford the Kremlin time to further radicalise and militarise Russian society against Ukraine and the Russian military time to rest and reconstitute, likely before conducting a future attack on Ukraine.”
South Korea ‘planning to send personnel to Ukraine to monitor North Korean troops'
Friday 1 November 2024 17:10
Andy Gregory
South Korea is reportedly planning to send personnel to Ukraine to monitor North Korean troops, amid reports that Pyongyang has deployed some 10,000 soldiers to Russia.
South Korean newspaper Hankyoreh cited a senior presidential office official as saying on Wednesday that South Korea has a “legitimate need” to analyse North Korean military activities in the war in Ukraine and “feels the need” to establish a team to monitor North Korean troops and the battlefield situation.
Last week, South Korean news agency Yonhap quoted a government source as saying that South Korea was considering sending South Korean military personnel, likely from intelligence units, to Ukraine to monitor North Korean forces’ tactics and combat capabilities and to question captured North Koreans.
Russian troops trying to gain foothold across canal in Chasiv Yar, Ukraine says
Friday 1 November 2024 16:40
Andy Gregory
Russian troops are moving in small groups and trying to gain a foothold across the Siverskyi Donets-Donbas canal in Chasiv Yar, a Ukrainian military spokesperson has said.
“The purpose of such actions is to accumulate as much as possible before the attack. However, such attempts are detected by our drones and are targeted,” she told Ukrainian broadcasters, according to the Kyiv Independent.
The spokesperson insisted that the front line in Chasiv Yar – which has been partially controlled by Russia since July – has been “stabilised”.
Ukraine refutes Russian claims to have seized Chasiv Yar
Friday 1 November 2024 16:13
Andy Gregory
Ukraine has refuted Russian claims to have captured the Donetsk towns of Chasiv Yar and Toretsk, with a military spokesperson insisting that the front line has been “stabilised” and that Russian troops are not advancing.
Chasiv Yar has been partially controlled by Russia since July and its seizure by Vladimir Putin’s forces would be a major blow to Kyiv.
Speaking on national television, the spokesperson said: “At the moment, they do not have an advantage in these towns. The contact line is stabilised.”
Full report: North Korea's top diplomat is in Moscow
Friday 1 November 2024 15:46
Andy Gregory
Russia’s top diplomat Sergey Lavrov has hosted his North Korean counterpart Choe Son Hui for talks, as the Pentagon accused Pyongyang of sending 10,000 troops to Russia to fight against Ukraine.
Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang have specified the agenda for Ms Choe’s talks in Moscow, but in a closed-door hearing at South Korea’s parliament, the South’s spy agency said she may be involved in high-level discussions on sending additional troops to Russia and negotiating what the North would get in return.
South Korean and Western officials have voiced concern that Russia may offer technology that could advance the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile program.
‘War is always a defeat’: Pope Francis urges prayer for Ukraine
Friday 1 November 2024 15:18
Andy Gregory
Pope Francis has issued a call for people to pray for Ukraine, as he declared that “war is always a defeat”.
The Catholic leader said on X, formerly Twitter: “Let us pray for martyred Ukraine and for Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Myanmar, South Sudan, and for all peoples suffering from war. War is always a defeat, always! War is also ignoble, for it is the triumph of lies and falsehood.”
Dissident Belarusian film director released after a year of detention in Serbia
Friday 1 November 2024 14:56
Andy Gregory
A noted Belarusian film director and dissident who was held in Serbia for a year while Belarus sought his extradition has been released from house arrest.
Andrei Hniot told the Associated Press that Serbian authorities released him from house arrest on Thursday, exactly a year after he was detained, in line with Serbian law which states that pre-extradition detention cannot exceed one year.
Belarus issued an international warrant for Hniot – a critic of authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko –on charges of tax evasion, which he claims are false. Exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was among those to campaign for his release, in efforts she said were backed by Germany’s foreign ministry and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen.
Having now moved to Germany, he said: “In Berlin I was able to to breathe a sigh of relief and try to comprehend that this nightmarish year is already behind me.”
The Belarusian human rights group Viasna says there are about 1,300 political prisoners in Belarus, including the group’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning founder Ales Bialiatski.
Japan and EU announce a security and defence partnership
Friday 1 November 2024 14:40
Andy Gregory
Japan and the European Union have announced a security and defence partnership amid growing tensions with Russia, North Korea and China.
It is the first security partnership that the EU has struck with an Indo-Pacific country, Japanese foreign minister Takeshi Iwaya and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters.
“We live in a very dangerous world. We live in a world of growing rivalries, climate accidents and threats of war. And there is only one antidote to this challenging world, which is partnerships among friends,” Mr Borrell said. “It is an historical and very timely step given the situation in both of our regions.”
Russia claims two people killed in Ukrainian drone attack on convent
Friday 1 November 2024 14:00
Andy Gregory
Russian investigators have claimed that a Ukrainian drone attackkilled two people at a convent in the Kursk region late last month.
The state Investigative Committee said the attack took place in late October. A Russian military blogger claimed the victims were two young men who were trying to evacuate people.
Russia sentences former US consulate worker to nearly 5 years in prison
Friday 1 November 2024 13:40
Andy Gregory
A court in Russia’s far-eastern city of Vladivostok has sentenced a former US consulate worker charged with cooperating with a foreign state to four years and 10 months in prison.
Robert Shonov, a Russian citizen and former US consulate employee, was arrested in May 2023 and accused by the FSB of “gathering information about the special military operation” in Ukraine, a partial call-up in Russian regions and its influence on “protest activities of the population in the runup to the 2024 presidential election.”
The US State Department condemned the arrest last year and said the allegations against Shonov “are wholly without merit”.
US presses silent China to rein in North Korea and Russia as tensions rise
Friday 1 November 2024 13:22
AP
The US and South Korea have called on China to use its influence over Russia and North Korea to prevent escalation after Pyongyang sent thousands of troops to Russia to aid Moscow’s war against Ukraine. Beijing has so far stayed quiet.
In a rare meeting earlier this week, three top US diplomats met with China’s ambassador to the United States to emphasise US concerns and urge China to use its sway with North Korea to try to curtail the cooperation, according to a State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Thursday that the sides had “a robust conversation just this week” and that China knows US expectations that “they’ll use the influence that they have to work to curb these activities”.
“But I think this is a demand signal that’s coming not just from us, but from countries around the world,” he said at a news conference in Washington with defence secretary Lloyd Austin and their South Korean counterparts.
Didi Tang and Matthew Lee have the full report:
ICYMI: Putin launches drills of Russia's nuclear forces
Friday 1 November 2024 13:01
Andy Gregory
Russia attacked Ukraine with more than 2,000 drones in October, Kyiv says
Friday 1 November 2024 12:40
Andy Gregory
Russia launched more than 2,000 attack drones at civilian and military targets across Ukraine last month, bringing the total this year to nearly 7,000 , Kyiv’s military has said.
Moscow has carried out regular air strikes on Ukrainian towns and cities, with the capital Kyiv coming under attack 20 times in October alone, according to city officials.
Ukraine’s General Staff said in a statement it had intercepted 1,185 of the 2,023 drones launched last month and that another 738 were “locationally lost”.
“In total, since the beginning of 2024, the enemy has launched 6,987 attack UAVs on the territory of Ukraine. Enemy drones mostly targeted civilian and critical infrastructure,” it said.
Father pays tribute to ex-British soldier son killed fighting in Ukraine
Friday 1 November 2024 12:20
Andy Gregory
A former British Army soldier who died fighting the Russians in Ukraine was a “brave soul”, his father has said.
Liam Love, a 24-year-old who grew up in Coventry, was killed by a mortar bomb in Lyman in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine in October, his family said. His parents live in Co Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, and a funeral service will he held there on Saturday.
Mr Love served with the Royal Anglian Regiment for four years, during which he helped train Ukrainian conscripts following the invasion by Russia in early 2022. His father, Michael, said that experience had a profound effect on his son and he left the British Army earlier this year to join the fight in Ukraine.
“The training was all too short because the men were needed back in Ukraine as quickly as possible,” Mr Love told BBC Northern Ireland. “Liam befriended and kept in touch with them when they went back to Ukraine, but a lot were killed.
“He gave me a sense that he wanted to be more involved but never did I think that involvement would one day lead him to actually crossing the border into Ukraine.
“He empathised with the Ukrainian people and their plight and I think he felt that he didn’t give enough to the Ukrainian recruits when he was part of the training package. So he wanted to go out and help them to free themselves from what the Russians were doing at the time.”
He added: “I want him to be remembered that he did believe in what he did and despite the discomforts of battle, warfare; his determination to see it through, I want that to be his lasting legacy. He wanted to be remembered by a simple quote, ‘What we do in life echoes in eternity’, and that will echo with me. He was just a brave soul.”
Global explosives shortage hindering Ukraine’s push to produce more mortar shells
Friday 1 November 2024 11:51
Andy Gregory
A global explosives shortage is constraining Ukraine’s push to ramp up its vital production of mortar shells, Kyiv’s top arms official said.
Ukraine has increased its production of shells from zero prior to Russia’s invasion to millions per year currently, as it seeks to reduce its heavy reliance on Western military aid. Mortar shells, which are cheaper and work at shorter ranges than artillery, are a vital weapon against the infantry-led assaults Russia uses to advance in the east.
Herman Smetanin, a 32-year-old former employee at state-owned defence firm Ukroboroprom who was appointed Ukraine’s minister overseeing wartime arms production last month, told Reuters in his first interview that Kyiv had increased production across various types of artillery as well as mortar rounds.
But warning that “this is still not enough”, Mr Smetanin said Ukraine was being held back by global production bottlenecks and high demand that has created a shortage of explosives.
He said: “The only problem we have now are powders and explosives. However much explosive comes into Ukraine, that’s how many shells we will have.”
Does North Korea have missiles that could strike the US?
Friday 1 November 2024 11:32
AP
In recent years, North Korea has reported steady advancement in its efforts to obtain nuclear-tipped missiles.
Many foreign experts believe North Korea likely has missiles that can deliver nuclear strikes on all of South Korea, but it has yet to possess nuclear missiles that can strike the mainland US.
The hurdles it has yet to overcome, according to experts, include ensuring its warheads survive the heat and stress of atmospheric reentry, improving the altitude control and guidance systems for the missiles, and being able to use multiple warheads on a single missile to defeat missile defenses.
Full report: US says 10,000 North Korean soldiers now at Ukraine border
Friday 1 November 2024 11:09
Andy Gregory
Nearly 10,000 North Korean troops have arrived in Russia near Ukraine’s border, sparking concern that they may soon join Moscow’s war effort.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken confirmed the deployment on Thursday, adding that these troops have been trained in artillery and drone operations and basic infantry tactics.
Mr Blinken claimed that about 8,000 of the Korean soldiers are positioned in Kursk, the border region where Russian forces have been fighting off a Ukrainian incursion since August.
This troop count is a sharp increase from previous estimates. US defence secretary Lloyd Austin just a day earlier indicated only a partial movement of Korean soldiers towards the Ukraine border.
Mr Blinken warned that the Korean soldiers would become “legitimate military targets” if they engaged in combat operations.
My colleague Namita Singh has more in this report:
Russian claims control of three settlements in eastern Ukraine
Friday 1 November 2024 10:51
Andy Gregory
Russian forces have captured three new settlements in eastern Ukraine, Russian news agencies have quoted the defence ministry as claiming.
They named the settlements as Leonidivka, Novoukrainka and Shakhtarske. It was not possible to immediately verify the claims, although Russia has previously claimed control over villages it is yet to seize.
North Korea will back Russia until victory in Ukraine war, top official claims
Friday 1 November 2024 10:30
Andy Gregory
North Korea will back Russia until it achieves victory in the Ukraine war, foreign minister Choe Son Hui has said
“Our traditional, historically friendly relations, which have travelled the tested path of history, today ... are rising to a new level of relations of invincible military comradeship,” she told Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, praising the role played in this by Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin.
She said Pyongyang had no doubt that under Putin’s “wise leadership” the Russian army and people would “achieve a great victory in their sacred struggle to protect the sovereign rights and security interests of their state.”
“And we also assure that until the day of victory we will firmly stand alongside our Russian comrades,” she said.
Western officials have accused North Korea of sending 10,000 troops to Russia for deployment in the war, in a move they fear Pyongyang will use in a bid to persuade Russia to share technology to boost its nuclear scheme.
Russian foreign minister hails close military and intelligence service ties with North Korea
Friday 1 November 2024 10:10
Andy Gregory
Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has hailed what he described as close ties between the militaries and security services of Russia and North Korea, saying such ties make it possible for both countries to solve their security challenges.
Speaking at the start of talks in Moscow with his North Korean counterpart Choe Son Hui, he thanked Pyongyang for what he called its “principled position” on Ukraine amid claims by the US that 10,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia, which Moscow has neither confirmed nor denied.
Kremlin says it has nothing more to say about allegations of North Korean troops in Ukraine
Friday 1 November 2024 09:51
Andy Gregory
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has told reporters he has “nothing to add to what has already been said” about assertions of North Korea sending thousands of troops to Russia to help in its war against Ukraine.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said
