US officials have claimed that North Korea is suffering mass casualties on the front lines of Russia’s war against Ukraine, as Biden pushes to send a £1bn boost to Kyiv.
White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Friday that thousands of North Korean troops had been killed or wounded in the last week alone.
“It is clear that Russian and North Korean military leaders are treating these troops as expendable and ordering them on hopeless assaults against Ukrainian defenses,” Kirby said.
South Korea, Ukraine and the US previously accused Pyongyang of sending thousands of soldiers to help Russia fight off the Ukrainian invasion of the Kursk border region.
It comes as the White House is expected to announced it will send £1bn in military assistance to Ukraine, officials said, as Biden pushes to get as much aid to Kyiv as possible before leaving office in January.
The large package of aid, which is expected to be announced on Monday, is said to include a significant amount of munitions, including for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems and the HAWK air defense system.
Key points
- North Korea suffering mass casualties on frontline, US says
- US expected to announce $1bn aid package
- Russia warns the United States on possible nuclear testing under Trump
- N. Korean soldier captured in Ukraine dies, South Korea’s spy agency says
- Russian air defence likely behind Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash, military experts say
Bloodied Ukrainian troops risk losing more hard-won land in Kursk to Russia
06:05
Arpan Rai
Five months after their shock offensive into Russia, Ukrainian troops are bloodied and demoralised by the rising risk of defeat in Kursk, a region some want to hold at all costs while others question the value of having gone in at all.
Battles are so intense that some Ukrainian commanders can’t evacuate the dead. Communication lags and poorly timed tactics have cost lives, and troops have little way to counterattack, seven frontline soldiers and commanders told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity so they could discuss sensitive operations.
Since being caught unaware by the lightning Ukrainian incursion, Russia has amassed more than 50,000 troops in the region, including some from its ally North Korea. Precise numbers are hard to obtain, but Moscow’s counterattack has killed and wounded thousands and the overstretched Ukrainians have lost more then 40 per cent of the 984 sq km (380 sq miles) of Kursk they seized in August.
Kitten named Peach saves life of Ukrainian man fleeing war
06:00
Jabed Ahmed
As Trump returns to the White House, and Putin’s forces advance – what next for Ukraine in 2025?
05:10
Arpan Rai
After nearly three years of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the future of the country’s fight against Vladimir Putin’s forces is more uncertain than ever.
Donald Trump’s sweeping victory in the US presidential race, off the back of promises to end the war in Eastern Europe in 24 hours – seemingly even if that means forcing Kyiv to cede territory to Russia – appears to spell the end of the West’s long-held policy of helping Ukraine to defeat Putin entirely. Negotiations with Russia, after years of silence, are back on the agenda.
This is causing significant stress in Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada. As Kira Rudik, a Ukrainian opposition leader, puts it: “The world needs to understand how crucial it is not to end the war on any idea of negotiating with Russia.”
‘I have to be here. My family understands’: Christmas on the frontline with Ukraine’s drone brigade
05:03
Arpan Rai
In the two years since its formation, Ukraine’s 13th National Guard Brigade – called “Khartiya” – has gained a reputation not only for prowess in battle but also for its culture of respect and innovative approach to technology.
Khartiya helped to halt Russian forces who launched a surprise incursion last May that threatened to overwhelm Kharkiv, from where many of its original members come.
The brigade was deployed to confront the Russian incursion around the village of Lyptsi, north of Ukraine’s second-largest city, last June; the forested area has since been a pivotal battleground.
Mapped: Where has Russia made advances on the frontline in Ukraine?
05:00
Jabed Ahmed
China’s Xi to visit Russia in 2025, Russian ambassador says
04:37
Arpan Rai
China’s president Xi Jinping will visit Russia in 2025, Russia’s state-run RIA news agency quoted Moscow’s ambassador to Beijing as saying.
“As for concrete bilateral events, I can say that the appropriate plans are actively being drawn up,” Ambassador Igor Morgulov told RIA yesterday.
“What can be said that is no secret, in terms of priority, is that the chairman of the People’s Republic of China is expected in Russia next year.”
At a regular press conference, China’s foreign ministry did not confirm the visit, but reiterated that the two countries maintained close contacts at all levels.
Russian president Vladimir Putin visited China in February 2022, proclaiming a “no limits” partnership days before he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine. He was in Beijing again last May, after his re-election by a landslide, welcoming a “new era” of relations focusing on opposition to US policy.
Russia warns ‘radical’ Donald Trump against resuming nuclear testing
04:27
Arpan Rai
Russia has warned it “rules out nothing” regarding nuclear testing in response to Donald Trump’s “radical” position on the issue during his first term as president.
Deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov, who oversees arms control, warned the United States that its nuclear arsenal is intended to “sober up” countries on the “brink of direct armed conflict” with Russia.
Russia, the US and China are all undertaking major modernisations of their nuclear weapons just as the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) of the Cold War era between the Soviet Union and the US is starting to fall apart.
North Korean soldier captured in Ukraine died from injuries, says South Korea
04:16
Arpan Rai
South Korea’s spy agency said that a North Korean soldier who was captured alive in Ukraine has died from his injuries, the Yonhap news agency reported.
Yonhap earlier reported yesterday that the agency had confirmed that a North Korean soldier dispatched to fight for Russia had been captured by Ukrainian forces.
Russia says it has taken two more east Ukrainian villages
04:01
Arpan Rai
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had taken control of two eastern Ukrainian villages, Ivanivka in the Donetsk region, and Zahryzove in the Kharkiv region, the RIA state news agency reported.
The ministry also claimed it had downed four British-made Storm Shadow missiles in the past week.
Ukraine sends food aid to Syria, says Zelensky
03:47
Arpan Rai
Ukraine, a global producer and exporter of grain and oilseeds, has sent its first batch of food aid to Syria, president Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday.
Mr Zelensky said that 500 metric tons of wheat flour were already on their way to Syria as part of Ukraine‘s humanitarian “Grain from Ukraine“ initiative in cooperation with the United Nations World Food Programme.
“The wheat flour is planned to be distributed to 33,250 families or 167,000 people, in the coming weeks,” he said on X, adding: “Each package weighs 15 kilograms and can feed a family of five for one month.”
After the ouster of Bashar al-Assad, a close Russian ally, Ukraine has said it wants to restore relations with Syria. Kyiv traditionally exports wheat and corn to countries in the Middle East, but not to Syria.
Russia claims it foiled several Ukrainian plots to kill senior officers
03:23
Arpan Rai
Russia has claimed it has foiled several Ukrainian plots to assassinate senior officers and their families using bombs disguised as power banks or document folders.
The country’s Federal Security Service said it had arrested four Russians accused of helping plan the attack, just weeks after a high-ranking officer was killed outside his Moscow apartment by a bomb attached to an electric scooter.
Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service confirmed they were behind the attack on 17 December that killed Lieutenant General Kirillov, chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops.
North Korean soldier captured by Ukraine dies, South Korea says
03:13
Arpan Rai
An injured North Korean soldier captured by Ukrainian forces has died, according to South Korean media.
The man is thought to be the first North Korean prisoner of war taken into custody since Pyongyang sent troops to aid Russia in the conflict in Ukraine.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said it had confirmed through an “allied intelligence agency” that the soldier had died from “serious injuries”, Yonhap News Agency reported.
Nato to step up Baltic Sea patrols
03:09
Arpan Rai
Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte said the military alliance will step up patrols in the Baltic Sea region as Finnish investigators work to establish whether a ship linked to Russia sabotaged undersea cables there this week.
In a post on X, Mr Rutte said that he had spoken to Finland’s president Alexander Stubb “about the ongoing Finnish-led investigation into possible sabotage of undersea cables”. Mr Rutte said that “Nato will enhance its military presence in the Baltic Sea”.
Asked for details about what might be done and when, Nato headquarters would say only that the 32-country alliance “remains vigilant and is working to provide further support, including by enhancing our military presence” in the region.
Finnish authorities seized control of the ship, the Eagle S, on Thursday as they tried to establish whether it had damaged a power cable linking Finland and Estonia and several data cables. It was the latest in a string of incidents involving the disruption of key infrastructure in the region.
70 per cent of Ukrainians support ‘West German’ model for Nato accession, survey shows
03:00
Jabed Ahmed
Just over 70 per cent of Ukrainians support gradual Nato accession akin to West Germany’s model, a new survey by the Kyiv-based New Europe Center showed.
This invitation would cover Ukraine, but the alliance’s defensive umbrella would only extend to occupied territories after liberation.
Different Nato accession pathways are gaining traction in both the West and Kyiv as Russia holds a military advantage on the battlefield and the prospect of liberating occupied territories militarily remains slim.
US to send $1.25bn in weapons to Ukraine
02:55
Arpan Rai
The US is expected to announce that it will send $1.25bn in military assistance to Ukraine, US officials said as the Biden administration pushes to get as much aid to Kyiv as possible before leaving office on 20 January.
The large package of aid includes a significant amount of munitions, including for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems and the HAWK air defence system. It also will provide Stinger missiles and 155 mm and 105 mm artillery rounds, officials said.
The officials, who said they expect the announcement to be made on Monday, spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public.
The new aid comes as Russia has launched a barrage of attacks against Ukraine’s power facilities in recent days, although Ukraine has said it intercepted a significant number of the missiles and drones.
North Korean troops left unprotected by Russia, says Zelensky
02:50
Arpan Rai
North Korean troops fighting in Russia’s Kursk region are left unprotected by the Russian forces, Volodymyr Zelensky has said, stating that the Korean nation should not lose its people as casualties in Europe.
Speaking in his nightly video address, Mr Zelensky said that Russian troops were doing everything to ensure that North Korean soldiers were not taken prisoner by Ukrainian forces.
“...we can see that the Russian military and the North Korean enforcers have no interest in the survival of these Koreans at all. Everything is arranged in a way that makes it impossible for us to capture the Koreans as prisoners – their own people are executing them, there are such cases,” he said.
He said some North Korean soldiers had been captured by Ukrainian forces, but were hurt so badly they could not be saved.
“Today we received reports on several soldiers from North Korea, our warriors managed to capture them. But they were seriously wounded and could not be resuscitated. This is one of the manifestations of the madness dictatorships are capable of,” he said.
What Russia's invasion has cost Ukraine after more than 1,000 days of war
02:00
Jabed Ahmed
Devastating human and material losses continue to mount, leaving Ukraine more vulnerable than at any time since the early days of the war.
As of 31 August, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine had documented at least 11,743 civilians killed and 24,614 wounded in Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Ukrainian prosecutors have said 589 Ukrainian children had been killed by 15 November.
Western countries believe Russia has suffered far worse casualties than Ukraine, sometimes losing more than 1,000 soldiers killed per day during periods of intense fighting in the east.
But it is Ukraine, with around a third of Russia’s population, that is likely to be facing the more severe manpower shortages arising from battles of attrition.
Russia now occupies and claims to have annexed around a fifth of Ukraine, an area around the size of Greece.
The draft 2025 budget envisages that about 26 per cent of Ukraine’s GDP, or 2.2 trillion hryvnias ($53.3 billion), would go on defence. Ukraine has already received more than $100 billion from its Western partners in financial aid.
What is ATACMS? The US missiles being used inside Russia
01:00
Jabed Ahmed
There are several variants of Army Tactical Missile Systems, a long-range missile system that often carries varying amounts of cluster bomblets.
Ukrainian forces used the US-supplied long-range ATACMS missiles for the first time in October 2023, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy saying the weapons had “proven themselves.”
Ukraine likely has what are known as M39A1 Block IA ATACMS that are guided in part by Global Positioning System and have a range of 40 to 190 miles. They can carry a payload of 300 bomblets. The M39 Block IA were used in Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to Army documents, and were added to the US arsenal in 1997.
Ukraine's military intelligence claims North Korean troops in Russia suffering heavy battlefield losses
Friday 27 December 2024 23:59
Jabed Ahmed
North Korean troops are suffering heavy losses in the fighting in Russia’s Kursk region and facing logistical difficulties as a result of Ukrainian attacks, Kyiv’s military intelligence claimed on Thursday.
The intelligence agency, known by its acronym GUR, said Ukrainian strikes near Novoivanovka inflicted heavy casualties on North Korean units. It said North Korean troops also faced supply issues and even shortages of drinking water.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky claimed earlier this week that 3,000 North Korean troops had been killed and wounded in the fighting in Kursk. It marked the first estimate by Ukraine of North Korean casualties several weeks after Kyiv announced that North Korea had sent over 10,000 troops to help the Russian war effort.
US expected to announce $1bn aid package
Friday 27 December 2024 23:44
Athena Stavrou
The United States is expected to announce that it will send $1.25 billion in military assistance to Ukraine, US officials said Friday, as the Biden administration pushes to get as much aid to Kyiv as possible before leaving office on January 20.
The large package of aid includes a significant amount of munitions, including for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems and the HAWK air defense system. It also will provide Stinger missiles and 155 mm- and 105 mm artillery rounds, officials said.
The officials, who said they expect the announcement to be made on Monday, spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public.
North Korea suffering mass casualties on frontline, US says
Friday 27 December 2024 23:43
Athena Stavrou
US officials have claimed that North Korea is suffering mass casualties on the front lines of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Friday that thousands of North Korean troops had been killed or wounded in the last week alone.
“It is clear that Russian and North Korean military leaders are treating these troops as expendable and ordering them on hopeless assaults against Ukrainian defenses,” Kirby said.
South Korea, Ukraine and the US previously accused Pyongyang of sending thousands of soldiers to help Russia fight off the Ukrainian invasion of the Kursk border region.
What is Russia's 'Oreshnik' missile?
Friday 27 December 2024 23:01
Jabed Ahmed
Vladimir Putin said Russia had struck Ukraine with a new hypersonic medium-range ballistic missile in response to Kyiv’s use of US and British missiles against Russia.
On 21 November, he said Russia had launched an “Oreshnik”, one of its newest intermediate-range missiles, at a defence enterprise in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
Putin said it travelled at 10 times the speed of sound and could not be intercepted. It has a range of around 3,100 miles allowing Russia to strike most of Europe, according to experts.
It appears to have multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles: separate warheads able to hit different targets.
Anatoly Matviychuk, a Russian military expert, said it could carry six to eight conventional or nuclear warheads, and was probably already in service
Putin says he is open to peace talks in Slovakia
Friday 27 December 2024 22:00
Jabed Ahmed
Russian president Vladimir Putin has said he would be open to peace talks with Ukraine in Slovakia “if it comes to that”.
Mr Putin said Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico, who this week visited the Kremlin, had offered his country as a location for negotiations as the war in Ukraine nears the three-year mark.
The Russian president said the Slovakian authorities “would be happy to provide their own country as a platform for negotiations”.
“We are not opposed, if it comes to that. Why not? Since Slovakia takes such a neutral position,” Mr Putin said, adding he was resolved to end the conflict in Ukraine, which started with a land, air and sea invasion of Russia’s smaller neighbour in February 2022.
Russian air defence likely behind Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash that killed 38 people, military experts say
Friday 27 December 2024 21:01
Jabed Ahmed
Russia says Azerbaijan Airlines flight which crashed diverted amid fog and Ukrainian drone alert
Friday 27 December 2024 20:01
Jabed Ahmed
Russia’s aviation watchdog said that an Azerbaijan Airlines plane which crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday had decided to reroute from its original destination in Chechnya amid dense fog and a local alert over Ukrainian drones.
Rosaviatsia, the wathdog, said that the captain of the plane had been offered other airports at which to land, but had chosen Kazakhstan’s Aktau. It said that it would provide comprehensive support to Kazakh and Azerbaijani investigations looking into the crash.
Russia has said it’s important to wait for an investigation to finish its work to understand what happened. Four Azerbaijani sources told Reuters on Thursday the plane had been struck by Russian air defences.
Full report: Russia warns ‘radical’ Donald Trump against resuming nuclear testing
Friday 27 December 2024 19:01
Jabed Ahmed
Watch: Ukrainian soldiers celebrate Christmas on frontline of war
Friday 27 December 2024 18:01
Jabed Ahmed
Ukraine sends food aid to Syria, says Zelensky
Friday 27 December 2024 17:14
Jabed Ahmed
Ukraine, a global producer and exporter of grain and oilseeds, has sent its first batch of food aid to Syria, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday.
Zelensky said that 500 metric tons of wheat flour were already on their way to Syria as part of Ukraine‘s humanitarian “Grain from Ukraine“ initiative in cooperation with the United Nations World Food Programme.
“The wheat flour is planned to be distributed to 33,250 families or 167,000 people, in the coming weeks,” Zelensky said on X, adding: “Each package weighs 15 kilograms and can feed a family of five for one month.”
After the ouster of Bashar al-Assad, a close Russian ally, Ukraine has said it wants to restore relations with Syria.
Kyiv traditionally exports wheat and corn to countries in the Middle East, but not to Syria.
Russia says it has taken two more east Ukrainian villages, RIA reports
Friday 27 December 2024 16:45
Jabed Ahmed
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had taken control of two eastern Ukrainian villages, Ivanivka in the Donetsk region, and Zahryzove in the Kharkiv region, the RIA state news agency reported.
RIA also cited the ministry as saying it had downed four British-made Storm Shadow missiles in the past week.
These claims could not be independently verified.
Azerbaijan Airlines crash: was this another military shoot-down of a civil aircraft?
Friday 27 December 2024 16:01
Jabed Ahmed
Kremlin says Finland's seizure of ship suspected of cable damage is not an issue for it
Friday 27 December 2024 15:14
Jabed Ahmed
The Kremlin has said that Finland's boarding of a ship carrying Russian oil on suspicion the vessel caused an outage of the Estlink 2 undersea power cable was not a matter for it.
Estonia's armed forces have launched a naval operation to protect the parallel Estlink 1 undersea power cable in the Baltic Sea in response to the damage, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said on Friday.
When asked about Finland's actions Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "I can't say anything precise here, this is a very narrow-profile issue which is hardly the prerogative of the (Russian) presidential administration."
Estonia's navy to protect Baltic Sea power link after cable damage
Friday 27 December 2024 14:30
Jabed Ahmed
Estonia's armed forces have launched a naval operation to protect the Estlink 1 undersea power cable in the Baltic Sea in response to the damage this week of a parallel electricity line, Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna has said.
On Thursday, Finland seized a ship carrying Russian oil on suspicion the vessel caused an outage of the Estlink 2 undersea power cable which, like Estlink 1, connects Finland and Estonia, and that it also damaged four internet lines.
Baltic Sea nations are on high alert for acts of sabotage following a string of outages of power cables, telecom links and gas pipelines since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, although subsea equipment is also subject to technical malfunction and accidents.
Damage to subsea installations in the region has now become so frequent that it is difficult to believe this was caused merely by accident or poor seamanship, Tsahkna said on Thursday.
Finnish investigators believe the seized ship - the Cook Island-registered ship, named as the Eagle S - may have caused the damage by dragging its anchor along the seabed, one of several such incidents in recent years.
In Focus: As Trump returns to the White House, and Putin’s forces advance – what next for Ukraine in 2025?
Friday 27 December 2024 13:45
Jabed Ahmed
Ukraine is facing an array of issues heading into 2025, underscored by the anxiety of what the re-election of Donald Trump could mean for the country’s future. Tom Watling speaks to politicians, military experts and aid workers to discover what next year could look like
Pictured: Ukraine fire MLRS towards Russian troops in Zaporizhzhia region
Friday 27 December 2024 13:01
Jabed Ahmed
Russian air defence likely behind Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash that killed 38 people, military experts say
Friday 27 December 2024 12:44
Jabed Ahmed
Putin’s Christmas Day attacks were designed to show ruthless force – but they may backfire
Friday 27 December 2024 12:14
Jabed Ahmed
Half a million were left without heating and one person was killed as Russia launched more than 70 missiles at Kharkiv.
Yet 2025 will almost certainly be the year when the war ends – and it will not be the unmitigated disaster for Ukraine that seemed likely even a few months ago.
Read our Editorial here:
ICYMI: Russian drone attack kills two in Ukraine’s Donetsk region and several injured in Dnipropetrovsk
Friday 27 December 2024 11:31
Jabed Ahmed
Russian drones struck a multi-storey apartment building in the frontline town of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk, Ukraine, killing two people and injuring two.
Chasiv Yar has been under attack by Russian forces for many months in Donetsk region, the focus of Russia’s drive westward to capture the Donbas, which also includes Luhansk region.
The town lies west of Bakhmut, a regional centre which fell to Russian forces in May 2023 after months of heavy fighting.
Regional officials in Dnipropetrovsk region, further west, said a drone strike on the market in the town of Nikopol injured eight people on Thursday morning.
Seven of those injured were treated in hospital after the strike damaged stalls at the market, Dnipropetrovsk governor Serhiy Lysak said.
Nikopol, a frequent target of Russian attacks, lies on the opposite bank of a large reservoir from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Russia warns the United States on possible nuclear testing under Trump
Friday 27 December 2024 10:46
Jabed Ahmed
Russia’s arms control point man cautioned Donald Trump’s incoming administration that Moscow was considering a whole range of possible steps on nuclear testing due to what it said was Trump’s radical position on the issue.
The Kommersant newspaper quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who oversees arms control, as saying that Trump took a radical position on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) during his first term.
“The international situation is extremely difficult at the moment, the American policy in its various aspects is extremely hostile to us today,” Ryabkov was quoted as saying.
“So the optionality of our actions in the interests of ensuring security and the complex of possible measures and actions to realise this - and to send politically appropriate signals, in addition to what practitioners are considering - does not contain any exceptions.”
Romanian radar detects likely drone breaching territory, ministry says
Friday 27 December 2024 10:01
Jabed Ahmed
Romania’s radar systems detected a small flying object, likely a drone, breaching national airspace up to 6 km inland in the southeastern county of Tulcea, the defence ministry said.
The European Union and NATO state, which shares a 650 km (400 mile) border with Ukraine, has had Russian drone fragments fall on its territory repeatedly over the past year and a half as Moscow attacks Ukrainian port infrastructure.
The ministry said the radar first picked up the signal at 1904 GMT, 15 km east of Chilia Veche in Tulcea County.
It alerted the population of the county to take cover and began procedures to scramble fighter jets, but the radar lost the signal at 1909 GMT.
“There is no information about a possible target impact on national territory,” the ministry said.
Ukraine's air defence downs 13 out of 24 Russian drones, military says
Friday 27 December 2024 09:16
Jabed Ahmed
Ukrainian air defence shot down 13 out of 24 Russian drones launched in an overnight attack, the air force has said.
The air force said the other 11 Russian drones were "lost" without causing damage. Military analysts said that Ukraine has increasingly been using electronic warfare to redirect or spoof Russian drones.
South Korea's spy agency says N. Korean soldier captured in Ukraine died from injuries, Yonhap reports
Friday 27 December 2024 08:32
Jabed Ahmed
South Korea’s spy agency said that a North Korean soldier who was captured alive in Ukraine has died from his injuries, the Yonhap news agency reported.
Yonhap earlier on Friday reported that the agency had confirmed that a North Korean soldier dispatched to fight for Russia had been captured by Ukrainian forces.
Russia plays down speculation over cause of Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Kazakhstan
Friday 27 December 2024 08:00
Stuti Mishra
Russia and Kazakhstan have tried to calm speculation about the cause of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash, following claims it had been shot down by Russian air defence systems.
On Thursday, Moscow urged calm as its foreign minister said it would be wrong to come to conclusions before an investigation into the crash was complete.
The flight had been set to travel to Grozny, the capital of Russia‘s Chechnya on Wednesday, but instead diverted and crash-landed a few kilometres short of Aktau airport in Kazakhstan.
Read the full story here:
Watch: Ukrainian soldiers celebrate Christmas on frontline of war
Friday 27 December 2024 07:00
Athena Stavrou
Russia declares federal emergency over Black Sea oil spill
Friday 27 December 2024 06:00
Athena Stavrou
Russia has declared a federal emergency on Thursday over an oil spill caused by two Russian tankers in the Black Sea, the Emergencies Ministry said.
The tankers were hit by a storm on December 15, causing one split to in half and the other run aground.
The resulting spill has coated sandy beaches at and around Anapa, a popular resort, and caused serious problems for wildlife including seabirds, dolphins and porpoises.
More than 10,000 people have been trying to clear it up.
Putin says he is open to peace talks in Slovakia
Friday 27 December 2024 05:32
Stuti Mishra
Russian president Vladimir Putin has said he would be open to peace talks with Ukraine in Slovakia "if it comes to that".
Mr Putin said Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico, who this week visited the Kremlin, had offered his country as a location for negotiations as the war in Ukraine nears the three-year mark.
The Russian president said the Slovakian authorities "would be happy to provide their own country as a platform for negotiations".
"We are not opposed, if it comes to that. Why not? Since Slovakia takes such a neutral position," Mr Putin said, adding he was resolved to end the conflict in Ukraine, which started with a land, air and sea invasion of Russia's smaller neighbour in February 2022.
Injured North Korean soldier fighting for Russia captured by Ukrainian forces, South Korea says
Friday 27 December 2024 05:27
Stuti Mishra
South Korean intelligence services have claimed that Ukraine had captured a wounded North Korean soldier fighting for Russia, Korean broadcaster YTN reported.
It marks the first time a North Korean has been taken by Ukrainian forces since Pyongyang sent thousands of troops to help Russia in the fighting in the Kursk region.
"Through real-time information sharing with an allied country's intelligence agency, it has been confirmed that one injured North Korean soldier has been captured," South Korea's National Intelligence Service said in a statement.
Ukraine's military intelligence claims North Korean troops in Russia suffering heavy battlefield losses
Friday 27 December 2024 05:00
Stuti Mishra
North Korean troops are suffering heavy losses in the fighting in Russia's Kursk region and facing logistical difficulties as a result of Ukrainian attacks, Kyiv's military intelligence claimed on Thursday.
The intelligence agency, known by its acronym GUR, said Ukrainian strikes near Novoivanovka inflicted heavy casualties on North Korean units. It said North Korean troops also faced supply issues and even shortages of drinking water.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed earlier this week that 3,000 North Korean troops had been killed and wounded in the fighting in Kursk. It marked the first estimate by Ukraine of North Korean casualties several weeks after Kyiv announced that North Korea had sent over 10,000 troops to help the Russian war effort.
The casualty disclosure came as the Joe Biden administration was pressing to send as much military aid as possible to Ukraine before president-elect Donald Trump takes over in January.
Ukrainian forces launched an incursion into the Kursk region in August, dealing a significant blow to Russia's prestige and forcing it to deploy some of its troops from eastern Ukraine, where they were pressing a slow-moving offensive.
The Russian army has been able to reclaim some territory in the Kursk region from Ukrainian forces, but has failed to fully dislodge them.
Xi Jinping will visit Russia in 2025, Russian ambassador says
Friday 27 December 2024 04:00
Stuti Mishra
China's president Xi Jinping will visit Russia in 2025, Russia's state-run RIA news agency quoted Moscow's ambassador to Beijing as saying early on Friday.
"As for concrete bilateral events, I can say that the appropriate plans are actively being drawn up," ambassador Igor Morgulov told RIA.
"What can be said that is no secret, in terms of priority, is that the chairman of the People's Republic of China is expected in Russia next year."
China hasn't confirmed the visit yet.
Mr Putin visited China in February 2022, proclaiming a "no limits" partnership days before he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine. He was in Beijing again last May, after his re-election by a landslide, welcoming a "new era" of relations focusing on opposition to US policy.
Kremlin rejects claims exiled Syrian dictator Assad’s wife is seeking a divorce in Moscow
Friday 27 December 2024 03:11
Stuti Mishra
The Kremlin has sought to dismiss reports that Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s wife is seeking a divorce, after the couple were forced to flee to Russia.
Ukraine’s bold postage stamps become symbols of resistance
Friday 27 December 2024 02:00
Athena Stavrou
Ukraine’s postage stamps have become symbols of resistance and resilience during the war, using bold and sometimes provocative designs to boost morale and fund essential causes, the BBC reported.
Notable examples include a stamp featuring a soldier flipping off a Russian warship, which became iconic after the ship’s sinking, and others depicting a Ukrainian tractor towing a Russian tank or the mine-sniffing dog Patron.
Oscar Young from the UK-based stamp dealers and auctioneers Stanley Gibbons describes Ukraine’s war-focused approach to stamp design as highly unconventional.
“Generally stamps are artistic and polite, but to go out your way and be quite rude, placing profanity and being very gesturous on stamps - that is quite unique to these particular issues,” he told the BBC.
Watch: Ukrainian soldiers celebrate Christmas on frontline of war
Thursday 26 December 2024 23:00
Athena Stavrou