Volodymyr Zelensky insisted that Nato membership is the only way to end Russia’s war as South Korea’s spy agency warned that North Korea has sent a battalion of troops to bolster the Russian army in Ukraine.
Mr Zelensky uurged EU and Nato leaders in Brussels to formally invite Ukraine to join the military alliance as part of his five-point “victory plan”.
“We cannot be very strong without having an invitation [which] strengthens our diplomatic ways to end the war,” he told the Financial Times. “This war will finish when Putin will be isolated, and pushed by other partners to diplomacy.”
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in a statement that Russian navy ships had transferred 1,500 North Korean special operation forces to the Russian port city of Vladivostok earlier this month.
On the frontline, Ukraine’s air defences shot down 80 out of 135 drones launched in a mass attack by Vladimir Putin’s forces, Kyiv said. The air force said it lost track of 44 drones that likely fell into Ukrainian territory following active electronic warfare measures, while two drones went to Belarus, while Nato member Romania scrambled fighter jets after an unidentified object breached its airspace near the Black Sea.
Key Points
- Ukraine downs 80 out of 135 Russian drones, air force says
- Nato invite for Ukraine is only way to stop Russia’s war, says Volodymyr Zelensky
- Zelensky says 10,000 North Koreans could join Russia in Ukraine
- Russia claims it has captured a village in eastern Ukraine
- Nato chief says support for Ukraine will not waver
Biden urges no let-up in support for Ukraine on Berlin visit
06:30
Shahana Yasmin
US President Joe Biden championed his NATO allies to continue their support of Ukraine on his visit to Berlin yesterday.
Mr Biden met Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday, and were joined by French president Emmanuel Macron and British prime minister Keir Starmer for discussions.
“We should never underestimate the power of democracy, never underestimate the value of alliances,” Mr. Biden said at the Bellevue Palace in Berlin.
Western allies must “sustain our support (...) until Ukraine wins a just and sustainable peace. We’re headed into a very difficult winter. We cannot let up,” he added.
On Thursday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky unveiled a five-point “victory plan” to beat Russia to the European Union and NATO leaders, insisting that an “immediate invitation to Ukraine to join NATO would be decisive”.
Russian troops fighting to gain ground in Ukraine before winter sets in
06:10
Shahana Yasmin
Ukrainian troops have been caught up in fierce fighting for the town of Toretsk in the eastern region of Donetsk, which Russian troops entered on Friday, reported Al Jazeera.
“They erase the city with artillery. We have already seen it in other towns of Donbas. And after that, they storm in small groups. They are trying to find weak points in our defence with such small strikes,” Anastasia Bobovnikova, spokesperson for Luhansk Technical University said.
Head of Ukraine’s National Guard, Ruslan Muzychuk, said that Russia was trying to gain as much ground as possible before the rain makes it impossible for armoured vehicles to operate.
Russia returns 500 dead soldiers to Ukraine as world leaders mull next steps
05:50
Shahana Yasmin
Foreign secretary David Lammy urges China against supporting Russia’s military
05:15
Shahana Yasmin
British foreign secretary David Lammy on Friday raised his concerns regarding China’s support of Russia in its war against Ukraine, and urged his Chinese counterpart to prevent Chinese firms from providing supplies to Russia, reported the Associated Press.
Mr Lammy is on a two-day visit to China, and met vice premier Ding Xuexiang, and held talks with foreign minister Wang Yi on Friday.
In a statement after the meeting, the Foreign Office said that Mr Lammy “stated how both the UK and China have a shared interest in European peace and ending the war. He reaffirmed that concerns over China’s supply of equipment to Russia’s military industrial complex risks damaging China’s relationships with Europe whilst helping to sustain Russia’s war”.
Mr Lammy urged Mr Wang to “take all measures to investigate and to prevent Chinese companies from supplying Russia’s military,” the statement said.
Video report: Counter-terrorism police investigating UK warehouse fire over possible links to Russia
04:55
Andy Gregory
Everything we know about North Korean troops joining Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
04:30
Shahana Yasmin
The US and its allies have raised the alarm after Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that North Korea was sending thousands of soldiers to help Russia in its war in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president claimed on Thursday that his government had intelligence that nearly 10,000 soldiers from North Korea were being prepared to join the Russian forces fighting in his country.
Mr Zelensky made the claim, without offering further details, a day after US deputy secretary of state Kurt Campbell said Washington and its allies were concerned by North Korea’s military support for Russia.
North Korean troops in Russia readying for combat, South Korea says
04:10
Shahana Yasmin
South Korea’s spy agency said on Friday that North Korea has sent 1,500 special forces troops to Russia’s Far East for training and acclimatisation at local military bases, likely to be deployed for combat in the war in Ukraine, reported Reuters.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said it had been working with Ukraine’s intelligence service and identified North Korean officers in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region using facial recognition artificial intelligence technology.
“The direct military cooperation between Russia and North Korea that has been reported by foreign media has now been officially confirmed,” the spy agency said in a statement.
ICYMI: Don’t tremble at Putin’s threats, Zelensky urges West as Ukraine seeks backing for ‘victory plan’
03:50
Andy Gregory
The free world “must not tremble” at Vladimir Putin’s threats, Volodymyr Zelensky has urged, as the Ukrainian president pressed for Nato and the EU to back his new “victory plan” to beat Russia.
In a hectic day of diplomacy in Brussels after unveiling the five-point plan he insists can end the war next year, Mr Zelensky sought to coalesce the support of Ukraine’s allies as he addressed European Union and Nato leaders in back-to-back meetings on Thursday.
With the plan hinging on the thorny issue of Nato membership for Ukraine, over which many of the military alliance’s member states are wary, Mr Zelensky underscored the test of allegiance facing Kyiv’s allies, declaring: “This plan doesn’t depend on Russian will, only on the will of our partners.”
Russia may be loud but Nato is strong, says alliance’s new chief
02:50
Andy Gregory
“Russia may be loud but NATO is strong”, Nato’s new chief Mark Rutte told reporters on Friday, after chairing his first Nato defence ministers’ meeting in Brussels.
Condemning Vladimir Putin’s “increasingly irresponsible rhetoric”, he added that Nato allies were working hard to support Ukraine during the coming winter and that the main focus of the meeting was on getting massive military aid into Ukraine.
Starmer says Ukraine’s allies are ‘absolutely united in our resolve'
01:50
Andy Gregory
Sir Keir Starmer said allies are “absolutely united in our resolve” to back Ukraine for “as long as it takes”.
Speaking on a visit to Berlin, the prime minister said: “As Ukraine enters a difficult winter, it’s important to say we are with you. We’re absolutely united in our resolve and will back Ukraine for as long as it takes.”
He added that Russia was “getting weaker” as the war soaks up 40 per cent of its budget.
“The only acceptable outcome is a sovereign Ukraine and a just peace,” he said.
Ukrainian men dragged out of nightclubs by army recruiters
Saturday 19 October 2024 00:50
Andy Gregory
World is at a dangerous moment as conflicts spread, UN rights chief says
Friday 18 October 2024 23:50
Andy Gregory
The UN’s human rights chief has warned that the world is at an especially dangerous moment in history, with disregard and disrespect for international law “reaching a deafening crescendo”.
Volker Türk said conflicts are spreading and intensifying and humanitarian and human rights laws are being “trampled amid broad impunity.”
He was sharply critical of Israeli authorities for allowing Palestinians in Gaza to reach “catastrophic levels of hunger” but also cited human rights violations in Ukraine, Sudan, Haiti and Myanmar – and said he could name many other conflicts.
Edith M Lederer has the full report:
Russia flaunts its many doomsday weapons to keep the West from ramping up support for Ukraine
Friday 18 October 2024 23:20
Andy Gregory
Watch: Trump blames Zelensky for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Friday 18 October 2024 22:50
Andy Gregory
Everything we know about North Korean troops joining Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Friday 18 October 2024 22:20
Andy Gregory
The US and its allies have raised the alarm after Volodymyr Zelensky and South Korea claimed that North Korea was sending thousands of soldiers to help Russia in its war in Ukraine.
My colleague Alisha Rahaman Sarkar reports:
Zelensky expecting White House feedback on ‘victory plan'
Friday 18 October 2024 21:50
Andy Gregory
Volodymyr Zelensky has said that he expects a White House team to visit Ukraine soon with feedback on the “victory plan” he has presented to Western leaders.
He told Ukrainian media that he agreed with Joe Biden that Ukraine would be receiving assistance packages quickly, likely every two to three weeks in the months ahead.
Ukraine should lift ban on talks with Russia, Putin claims
Friday 18 October 2024 21:20
Andy Gregory
Ukraine should lift its ban on talks with Russia, Vladimir Putin has said, as he remarked on possible Russian-Ukrainian negotiations in Saudi Arabia.
Russia is ready for dialogue with Ukraine but on the basis of what has already been agreed, the Russian president claimed.
Volodymyr Zelensky has said that calls for dialogue with Russia play into Mr Putin’s hands.
Putin says unclear when Ukraine war will end
Friday 18 October 2024 20:50
Andy Gregory
Vladimir Putin has said it is unclear when Russia will prevail against Ukraine in the war, but that Moscow’s forces were prepared to keep fighting until they clinched victory.
The Russian president said that Russian troops were getting more technologically advanced in what he cast as a war between Moscow and Nato that the alliance was waging using Ukrainian troops.
Putin says he wants ‘lasting peace’ in Ukraine as he praises China-Brazil proposal
Friday 18 October 2024 20:20
Andy Gregory
Vladimir Putin has claimed that Moscow needs to secure conditions for a lasting peace in Ukraine, which he said would help ensure Moscow's long-term security interests.
The Russian president praised a joint proposal by China and Brazil for ending the war in Ukraine as “balanced” and said it would provided a good basis for finding a solution.
The Chinese-Brazilian proposal, made public in May, calls for de-escalating the situation and resuming direct dialogue without requiring Russia to pull back its forces from Ukrainian territory.
Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed the initiative as serving Moscow's interests.
Russia returns bodies of 501 soldiers, Ukraine says
Friday 18 October 2024 19:50
Andy Gregory
Russia has returned the bodies of 501 soldiers, Ukrainian authorities said, in what appeared to be the biggest repatriation of war dead since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Most of the soldiers were killed in action in the eastern Donetsk region, mostly around the city of Avdiivka which was captured by Russian forces in February after a long and grinding battle, Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said.
Law enforcement agencies and forensic experts will identify the victims, who will then be handed to family members for burial, it said.
Putin claims Brazil could sign agreement to bypass ICC arrest warrant
Friday 18 October 2024 19:20
Andy Gregory
Russia could sign a bilateral agreement with Brazil to bypass the Internationl Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for him if necessary ahead of the upcoming G20 summit, Vladimir Putin has claimed.
“Decisions of this kind are very easy to circumvent, it is enough to sign an intergovernmental agreement and that’s it - the jurisdiction of the ICC will be limited,” Mr Putin said.
Russia, which is not a signatory to the ICC, strongly denies the allegations of war crimes made against it by the court, Ukraine and its Western allies.
Putin says his presence at G20 summit would cause a disruption
Friday 18 October 2024 18:50
Andy Gregory
Vladimir Putin has said that his possible attendance at next month’s G20 summit in Brazil would disrupt the important work there, adding that another official would represent Moscow.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has issued a warrant for Mr Putin’s arrest over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, and Kyiv has urged Brazil to arrest him if he travels to the summit.
“I have wonderful friendly relations with President Lula but why would I go there on purpose to disrupt the normal work of this forum,” Mr Putin told reporters.
Zelensky says no reason to lower draft age from 25
Friday 18 October 2024 18:20
Andy Gregory
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelesnky has said that Ukraine’s allies are pushing for the country to lower its military draft age – but that he saw no reason to do so.
Under current laws, only men aged between 25 and 60 can be mobilised into Ukraine’s military.
Russia tests nuclear unit as it rolls out ballistic missiles in latest threat to West
Friday 18 October 2024 17:50
Andy Gregory
Russia is testing the readiness of a missile unit that forms part of its strategic nuclear forces, the defence ministry has said – with Russian officials having repeatedly raised the spectre of nuclear war over the West’s support for Ukraine.
The drill involves a unit equipped with Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles which are capable of reaching US cities and can be equipped with multiple nuclear warheads, a reminder to the world that Russia possesses the world’s largest atomic arsenal.
Troops are practising moving the missiles in the field over distances of up to 60 miles under camouflage and protecting them against air attack and enemy sabotage groups, the ministry said.
My colleague Rachel Hagan reports:
Zelensky eyes Ukrainian weapons exports
Friday 18 October 2024 17:09
Andy Gregory
Volodymyr Zelensky has revealed that he had asked the defence ministry to work on proposals for possible weapons exports.
The Ukraine’s president told broadcasters that the exports would be possible only to Ukraine’s allies that are included in the Ramstein group which coordinates military support for Kyiv.
Why did Putin issue warning over Ukraine developing nuclear weapons?
Friday 18 October 2024 16:40
Andy Gregory
Vladimir Putin has threatened that Russia would not let Ukraine get nuclear weapons, after Ukraine’s leader said that since Kyiv had given up its Soviet-era nuclear arms, it must join Nato.
Mr Putin said any move by Ukraine to get nuclear weapons could not be concealed and would draw an appropriate Russian response. “Russia will not allow this to happen, no matter what,” he told reporters.
His remarks appear to refer to comments by Volodymyr Zelensky, who said on Thursday he had told Donald Trump that Ukraine needed either nuclear weapons or Nato membership for its security – but as it gave up nuclear weapons after the Soviet Union’s collapse, joining Nato was the only way it could deter Russia.
Mr Zelensky later clarified that he had never said Ukraine was preparing to build a nuclear weapon. “We don’t do nuclear weapons. Please, don’t move these messages,” he said.
Ukraine inherited nuclear weapons after the breakup of the Soviet Union but voluntarily relinquished them in the 1990s in return for guarantees of its territorial integrity, a deal it says Moscow reneged on by invading its land.
Calls for talks with Russia playing into Putin’s hands, warns Zelensky
Friday 18 October 2024 16:11
Andy Gregory
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that some allies have been raising the issue of Kyiv holding direct talks with Russia, which he said was dangerous for Ukraine and plays into Moscow’s hands.
“This is a desirable idea for Russia,” he added.
Ukraine not considering developing nuclear weapons, Zelensky aide says
Friday 18 October 2024 15:36
Andy Gregory
Ukraine is not considering developing nuclear weapons and recent reports on the topic were driven by an incorrect interpretation of remarks by president Volodymyr Zelensky, his chief of staff said on Friday.
“We have not these thoughts about nuclear, we refuse it,” Andriy Yermak told a think-tank event in Brussels, after Vladimir Putin called suggestions of nuclear weapons in Ukraine a dangerous provocation.
Russia will not allow Ukraine to obtain nuclear weapons, Putin claims
Friday 18 October 2024 15:35
Andy Gregory
Russia will not allow Ukraine to obtain nuclear weapons and talk about the possible of Kyiv doing so is a very dangerous provocation, Vladimir Putin has said.
Full report: North Korea’s special forces ‘in Russia ready to join Putin’s war in Ukraine’
Friday 18 October 2024 15:19
Andy Gregory
South Korea’s spy agency has warned that North Korea has sent a battalion of troops to bolster Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in a statement that Russian navy ships transferred 1,500 North Korean special operation forces to the Russian port city of Vladivostok earlier this month.
It said they are currently staying at military bases in Vladivostok and other Russian sites such as Ussuriysk, Khabarovsk and Blagoveshchensk, and that they will probably be deployed to battlegrounds after completing their adaptation training.
My colleague Rachel Hagan has the full report:
White House floats new commitments for Ukraine
Friday 18 October 2024 15:04
Andy Gregory
The United States expects to bring additional commitments for Ukraine to a meeting of Kyiv’s backers, which was rescheduled to take place virtually next month, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby has said.
Washington is still reviewing the “victory plan” put forward by Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr Kirby said ahead of Joe Biden meeting European allies in Berlin.
US defence secretary refuses to publicly evaluate Zelensky’s ‘victory plan'
Friday 18 October 2024 14:38
Andy Gregory
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin has declined to publicly evaluate Volodymyr Zelensky’s “victory plan”.
The Ukrainian president pitched the five-point plan to the European Union and Nato on Thursday in Brussels, where he received pledges of continued support but no endorsement from major allies of his call for Ukraine to be given an immediate invitation to Nato.
Russia has likely promised weapons technology to North Korea, experts say
Friday 18 October 2024 14:23
Andy Gregory
Following reports that North Korea has dispatched troops to Russia, experts told the Associated Press that Pyongyang likely received promises to provide it with high-tech weapons technology associated with its nuclear and missile programmes.
“Diplomatically, Pyongyang would be sacrificing its relations with European countries for the foreseeable future. The quid pro quo in terms of Russian military technology provided to the Kim regime could be significant enough to threaten South Korea’s security,” said Leif-Eric Easley, professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.
Hong Min, an analyst at Seoul’s Korea Institute for National Unification, believed Russia has likely offered technology transfers related to intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear-powered submarines and surface-to-air defence systems that would enhance North Korea’s deterrence posture against the US and South Korean forces.
Mr Hong said Mr Kim may also see the troop dispatch as a crucial opportunity to expose his soldiers to modern weapons technology and warfare and test their combat capabilities.
Full report: Don’t tremble at Putin’s threats, Zelensky urges West
Friday 18 October 2024 14:01
Andy Gregory
The free world “must not tremble” at Vladimir Putin’s threats, Volodymyr Zelensky has urged, as the Ukrainian president pressed for Nato and the EU to back his new “victory plan” to beat Russia.
In a hectic day of diplomacy in Brussels after unveiling the five-point plan he insists can end the war next year, Mr Zelensky sought to coalesce the support of Ukraine’s allies as he addressed European Union and Nato leaders in back-to-back meetings on Thursday.
With the plan hinging on the thorny issue of Nato membership for Ukraine, over which many of the military alliance’s member states are wary, Mr Zelensky underscored the test of allegiance facing Kyiv’s allies, declaring: “This plan doesn’t depend on Russian will, only on the will of our partners.”
Read more details in this report:
Watch: Trump blames Biden and Zelensky for Russia's invasion of Ukraine
Friday 18 October 2024 13:46
Andy Gregory
Putin claims BRICS nations will generate most global economic growth
Friday 18 October 2024 13:31
Andy Gregory
The BRICS group of nations will generate most of the global economic growth in the years ahead, Vladimir Putin has claimed as he seeks to show Western attempts to isolate Moscow have failed.
Mr Putin hopes to build up BRICS – which has expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates as well as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – as a powerful counterweight to the West in global politics and trade.
Despite the International Criminal Court warrant for his arrest, he is due to host a BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan next week.
“The countries in our association are essentially the drivers of global economic growth. In the foreseeable future, BRICS will generate the main increase in global GDP,” Mr Putin told officials and businessmen at a BRICS business forum in Moscow.
“The economic growth of BRICS members will increasingly depend less on external influence or interference. This is essentially economic sovereignty,” he added.
Trump blames Zelensky for allowing Russia to invade Ukraine
Friday 18 October 2024 13:17
Andy Gregory
Donald Trump has appeared to blame Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky for Russia’s invasion.
The Republican former president told the PBD Podcast on Thursday: “I think Zelensky’s one of the greatest salesmen I’ve ever seen. Every time he comes in they give him a hundred billion dollars. Who else got that kind of money in history?
“That doesn’t mean I don’t want to help him because I feel very badly for those people. But he should never have let that war start. The war’s a loser.”
‘Russia may be loud but Nato is strong,’ says alliance’s new chief
Friday 18 October 2024 13:02
Andy Gregory
“Russia may be loud but Nato is strong”, the military alliance’s chief Mark Rutte has said, after chairing his first Nato defence ministers’ meeting in Brussels,
Condemning Vladimir Putin’s “increasingly irresponsible rhetoric”, Mr Rutte added that Nato allies were working hard to support Ukraine during the coming winter and that the main focus of the meeting was on getting massive military aid into Ukraine.
North Korea has shipped 1,500 special forces to Russia, says South Korea
Friday 18 October 2024 12:43
Andy Gregory
North Korea has shipped 1,500 special forces troops to Russia’s far east for training and acclimatising at local military bases and will likely be deployed for combat in the war in Ukraine, South Korea’s spy agency has warned.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) also said it had been working with Ukraine’s intelligence service and had used facial recognition AI technology to identify North Korean officers in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region supporting Russian forces firing North Korean missiles.
North Korea has shipped more than 13,000 containers of artillery rounds, ballistic missiles and anti-tank rockets to Russia since August last year, the agency said, giving figures based on the remnants of weapons recovered from the battle front in Ukraine, with a total exceeding eight million artillery and rocket rounds.
“The direct military cooperation between Russia and North Korea that has been reported by foreign media has now been officially confirmed,” the spy agency said in a statement.
South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol’s office said he and key officials believe the dispatch of North Korean troops “is a grave security threat not only to our country but to the international community”, and said South Korea would respond with all available means, without elaborating on what actions it might take.
South Korea, which has emerged as a major global arms exporter, selling fighter jets, mechanized howitzers and missiles, has come under pressure from some Western allies including Washington to help arm Ukraine with lethal weapons but has stopped short of openly doing so.
Russia testing readiness of nuclear missile unit, Moscow says
Friday 18 October 2024 12:28
Andy Gregory
Russia is testing the readiness of a missile unit that forms part of its nuclear forces, the defence ministry said on Friday, in the latest of a series of warning signals to Ukraine and the West.
The test is taking place in the Tver region, northwest of Moscow, in the same week that Nato conducted its annual nuclear exercise and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky unveiled his “victory plan” for the war.
The inspection involves a unit equipped with Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles, which have a range of up to 6,835 miles – far enough to strike US cities – and are capable of delivering multiple nuclear warheads.
Troops are practising moving the missiles in the field over distances of up to 62 miles under camouflage and protecting them against air attack and enemy sabotage groups, the ministry said.
Video published by the military news channel Zvezda, accompanied by dramatic music, showed the missiles being rolled out of hangars on massive wheeled mobile launchers and travelling by road at night. Other footage showed soldiers moving through woods and firing weapons.
Vladimir Putin said last month that Moscow had extended the list of scenarios that could prompt it to use nuclear weapons, effectively lowering the threshold for their use.
Russia previously held two rounds of exercises involving Yars missile units in July. It has also held three sets of drills this year to test preparations for the launch of tactical nuclear missiles, which have a shorter range and lower yield than intercontinental strategic rockets.
Biden urges Ukraine’s allies to maintain resolve in supporting Kyiv
Friday 18 October 2024 12:11
Andy Gregory
US president Joe Biden has called on Ukraine’s allies to maintain their resolve and support Kyiv as it approaches a third winter of full-scale war.
Speaking alongside German chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin, Mr Biden welcomed Germany raising its defence spending to a Nato target of 2 per cent of gross domestic product.
He also said he would discuss Iran with Mr Scholz.
Romania scrambles four fighter jets after object breaches its airspace
Friday 18 October 2024 12:04
Andy Gregory
Romania scrambled four of its fighter jets on Thursday after an unidentified object breached its airspace near the Black Sea, its defence ministry said.
The small object, likely a drone, was detected by radar moving over the Black Sea towards the Nato country at around 5pm on Thursday, the ministry said. Romania has previously seen Russian drones enter its airspace as Moscow attacks Ukrainian targets along the Black Sea and Danube River.
Two Spanish F-18 fighter jets and two Romanian F-16s were dispatched to monitor the object, which radar signals indicated crossed into Romanian airspace near the coastal town of Eforie Nord and moved up to 8.7 miles inland.
The fighter aircraft did not spot the target, which soon disappeared from radar, according to the ministry. An investigation into a possible impact site was set to begin on Friday morning.
Biden and German president discussed Ukraine
Friday 18 October 2024 11:04
Rachel Hagan
US president Joe Biden met with German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin on Friday to discuss support for Ukraine and efforts to de-escalate the conflict in the Middle East, the White House has said.
Biden’s visit to Berlin to consult with key European allies on critical issues comes as the U.S. elections are just two-and-a-half weeks away.
“The President highlighted the strong diplomatic, economic, and military ties between the U.S. and Germany,” the White House readout stated.
UK sanctions Russia’s shadow fleet of tankers
Friday 18 October 2024 10:27
Rachel Hagan
Britain announced sanctions on an additional 18 Russian oil tankers and four liquefied natural gas vessels, marking its largest set of sanctions yet against Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet.”
The Foreign Office said on Thursday that his “shadow fleet” engages in illicit activities to bypass Western restrictions on Russian oil.
The announcement follows the United States and Canada’s decision to join a “call to action” to address the issue, which has already gained support from 44 European nations since its introduction by Britain in July.
The government said it was working with maritime authorities to demand that Russian vessels with suspected dubious insurance provide details of their insurance status as they pass through the English Channel.
Foreign Secretary, David Lammy said: “We must combat malign Russian activity at every turn, whether illicit tactics to bolster Putin’s war chest, their use of cyber-attacks or barbarism on the front line in Ukraine.”
The 18 oil tankers will be barred from UK ports and unable to access British maritime services, bringing the total number of sanctioned Russian oil tankers to 43.
The vessels included NS Bora, Atlas and Moskovsky Prospect.
Everything we know about North Korean troops joining Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Friday 18 October 2024 09:42
Rachel Hagan
The US and its allies have raised the alarm after Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that North Korea was sending thousands of soldiers to help Russia in its war in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president claimed on Thursday that his government had intelligence that nearly 10,000 soldiers from North Korea were being prepared to join the Russian forces fighting in his country.
Here is everything we know so far...
Biden to cement Ukraine efforts with European partners in Berlin trip
Friday 18 October 2024 08:51
Rachel Hagan
US President Joe Biden is making a 24-hour swansong visit to Berlin for talks with German chancellor Olaf Scholz about their countries' support for Ukraine.
A senior White House source told ABC News the visit will focus on shoring up cooperation with key European partners on issues from the Ukraine war to conflict in the Middle East, with a focus on the former.
“It [Germany] has been the second largest provider of military aid to Ukraine after the United States, and has provided a number of high-end capabilities, including tanks and other artillery systems,” the source told reporters.
The unnamed official noted the urgency of Biden's trip, as he wants to ensure Ukraine has everything required for self-defence.
The news comes just a day after Donald Trump blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for helping start that nation’s war with Russia.
Canada to give Ukraine C$65m military aid package
Friday 18 October 2024 08:11
Holly Evans
Canada plans to give Ukraine a C$64.8 million ($47 million) military aid package that will include small arms, ammunition, and protective gear, Defense Minister Bill Blair said in a statement on Friday.
The aid package, which also allocates money for training Ukrainian troops, is part of a C$500 million military funding committed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in July.
“The military assistance announced today provides Ukraine with important resources needed to defend itself against Russian aggression. Canada will continue to do what it takes to help them achieve victory,” Blair said.
Canada, one of Kyiv’s strongest proponents internationally, last month said it would donate 80,840 surplus small unarmed air-to-surface rockets to Ukraine as well as 1,300 warheads.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Canada has committed C$4.5 billion in military aid.
Ukraine downs 80 out of 135 Russian drones, air force says
Friday 18 October 2024 07:31
Arpan Rai
Ukraine’s air defences downed 80 out of 135 Russian drones launched overnight, the Ukrainian military said this morning.
The air force said it lost track of 44 drones that likely fell into Ukrainian territory following active electronic warfare measures and two drones went to Belarus. It noted that up to 10 drones were still in Ukrainian air space.
Ukrainian air force has not disclosed the full extent of any damage caused by the downed and destroyed debris.
Trump blames Zelensky and Biden – but not Putin – for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Friday 18 October 2024 07:13
Arpan Rai
Donald Trump held Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Joe Biden responsible for the Russia-Ukraine war in an interview — but made no reference to Vladimir Putin.
Two and a half years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Trump pinned the blame squarely on Zelensky and Biden for the conflict during an interview with podcaster Patrick Bet-David, which aired Thursday.
“I think Zelensky is one of the greatest salesmen I’ve ever seen,” Trump said, grumbling about how much aid the US has given Ukraine.
“And that doesn’t mean I don’t want to help them because I feel very badly for those people. But he should never have let that war start,” the former president added. “That war’s a loser.”
Ukraine has already cleared 35,000 sq km of landmines
Friday 18 October 2024 07:01
Andy Gregory
Ukraine has already cleared 35,000 square kilometers of landmines since Russia’s full-scale invasion began, first deputy prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko has told journalists at a conference in Switzerland.
The country’s prime minister Denys Shmyhal told the event that Ukraine’s National Mine Strategy will aim to clear his country – currently the most heavily mined on the planet – of landmines by 2033.
In Pics: Biden lands in Germany, to talk about Ukraine with allies today
Friday 18 October 2024 07:00
Arpan Rai
Joe Biden landed in Germany today where he will seek to cement cooperation with key European partners on issues from the Ukraine war.
In the afternoon, prime minister Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron are set to jet into Berlin to join him for talks focused largely on how to end the fighting in Ukraine as Moscow’s forces advance in the east and a bleak winter of power cuts looms.
“The key question is the nature of security guarantees and so that’s what we will talk about tomorrow,” Macron told reporters last night.
A sense of urgency is engulfing the US with next month’s presidential election, given Trump has signalled he would be much more reluctant to continue to support Kyiv.
“It’s a thank-you tour but it’s also a message to say, ‘please stay the course on Ukraine no matter what happens’,” said, Sudha David-Wilp of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
Nato invite for Ukraine is only way to stop Russia’s war, says Zelensky
Friday 18 October 2024 06:12
Arpan Rai
A formal invitation to Ukraine to join Nato is “the only way” Kyiv can end Russia’s invasion, Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
“We cannot be very strong without having an invitation [which] strengthens our diplomatic ways to end the war,” he told the Financial Times. “This war will finish when Putin will be isolated, and pushed by other partners to diplomacy.”
Zelensky presented his five-point victory plan to Ukraine’s parliament on Wednesday, and listed key points that included an invitation for Ukraine to join Nato along with permission to use Western-supplied long-range missiles to hit Russia.
He told the FT: “The invitation to Nato will raise up the morale of our people and our soldiers. Invitation means one more step to Nato, which means their children will not die. Never, because we will be a member of Nato. If we will not get a Nato invitation, morale will decrease.
“The war will not finish until Putin feels like he has to finish. And he only understands power,” Mr Zelensky said.
Belarus should be present at talks to end Ukraine war, Lukashenko claims
Friday 18 October 2024 06:00
Andy Gregory
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has insisted that Belarus should be present at talks on ending Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Tass news agency reported.
Nato chief says support for Ukraine will not waver
Friday 18 October 2024 05:50
Arpan Rai
Nato members will not lose their shared will to support Ukraine and Russian president Vladimir Putin would be wrong to think otherwise, the alliance’s chief Mark Rutte said.
“Ukraine will be member of Nato, there is no doubt about and until that happens we will make sure that Ukraine has everything it needs to prevail,” he said during a press conference alongside Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ukraine says Russia has transformed nuclear plant into 'military base'
Friday 18 October 2024 05:37
Arpan Rai
Russian forces have turned the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station into a military base, endangering global safety, Ukraine has warned.
The Zaporizhzhia facility, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, is located in southern Ukraine and was captured by Russia in the early stages of the war.
Andriy Yermak, a senior Ukrainian official, spoke virtually at a meeting in France on nuclear safety. “[Russia’s] seizing of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station... has become an unprecedented violation of international law and the norms of nuclear safety,” Mr Yermak said in remarks posted to the Ukrainian presidential website.
The capture of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear station, which no longer produces power, underscored Moscow’s “large-scale militarisation of nuclear power”, he warned.
“The station has been transformed into a military base and its personnel work under constant pressure and threats.”
His concerns were echoed by the French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot, who said the talks were important to deal with continuing security risks at the plant, made up of six reactors.
“There is a risk and that is the reason why, with the Ukrainians, we wanted to convene this conference in Paris, in order to discuss the situation in terms of nuclear security and safety today in Ukraine,” he told LCI television.
Biden to discuss Ukraine with allies on swansong Berlin trip
Friday 18 October 2024 05:18
Arpan Rai
Joe Biden will seek to cement cooperation with key European partners on issues from the Ukraine war to conflict in the Middle East during a swift swansong trip to Berlin today.
Biden, who sought to improve ties with Europe after the 201