“It seems that a good many of them are already in action,” a Western intelligence official said, according to CNN, adding that the number of North Korean soldiers inside Ukraine is expected to grow as they complete training in eastern Russia and await deployment on the war frontline.
South Korea and its allies estimated that at least 11,000 North Korean soldiers have been moved to Russia, with more than 3,000 of them now deployed close to the front lines in Ukraine, a presidential official said on Wednesday.
The US confirmed some North Korean soldiers were in the Kursk region, a Russian border area where Ukrainian forces staged a major incursion in August and hold hundreds of square kilometres of territory. A couple of thousand more were heading there, the Pentagon said.
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said the deployment of North Korean troops in the Ukraine conflict has increased the possibility of the war becoming more fierce.
It comes as Ukraine drafted 160,000 more troops in the anticipation of grinding warfare and a frozen battle zone in the upcoming winter – the third such under Russian invasion.
Key Points
- North Korean troops already in action in Ukraine, official says
- South Korea may send team to Ukraine to monitor North Korean troops
- Trudeau warns over North Korea role in Ukraine war
- Russia’s 19th air attack on Kyiv this month injures nine
- Blasts shake Kyiv after Russian drone attack, mayor says
‘If West can help Ukraine, why can’t North Korea help us?’ Russian envoy asks at UN
03:20
Shahana Yasmin
Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s envoy to the UN, asked on Wednesday why North Korea could not help Moscow when Western countries claimed the right to help Ukraine.
Russia was accused at a Security Council meeting by the US, Britain, South Korea, Ukraine and their allies of violating UN resolutions and the founding UN Charter with the deployment of troops from North Korea, according to Reuters.
“Supporting an act of aggression, which completely violates the principles of the UN Charter, is illegal,” said South Korea’s UN ambassador Hwang Joonkook.
“Any activities that are entailed with the DPRK’s dispatch of troops to Russia are clear violations of multiple UN Security Council Resolutions.”Mr Nebenzia said Russia’s military agreement with North Korea did not violate international law.
“Even if everything that’s being said about the cooperation between Russia and North Korea by our Western colleagues is true, why is it that the United States and allies are trying to impose on everyone the flawed logic that they have the right to help the Zelensky regime ... and Russian allies have no right to do a similar thing?” Mr Nebenzia asked.
North Korean troops sent to Russia may be pleased to be there, even as they face ferocious fighting
03:00
Tara Cobham
The thousands of young soldiers North Korea has sent to Russia, reportedly to help fight against Ukraine, include many 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 some of the troops have already arrived 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.
"They are too young and won't understand exactly what it means. They'll just consider it an honor to be selected as the ones to go to Russia among the many North Korean soldiers," said Lee Woong-gil, a former member of the same special forces unit, the Storm Corps. He came to South Korea in 2007. "But I think most of them won't likely come back home alive."
Troop deployment is Kim's 'big gamble'
Worries about North Korea's likely participation in the Russian-Ukraine war were highlighted this week when the Pentagon said North Korea has sent about 10,000 troops to Russia, and that they will likely fight against Ukraine "over the next several weeks." South Korea's presidential office said Wednesday that more than 3,000 North Korean soldiers have been moved close to battlefronts in western Russia.
North Korea's troop deployment could mark a serious escalation of the almost three-year war. It caught many outside observers by surprise because North Korea has its own security headache, a festering standoff with the United States and South Korea over its nuclear program.
Large North Korean troop casualties would be a major political blow for the country's 40-year-old ruler, Kim Jong Un, whose government hasn't formally confirmed the deployment. But experts say Kim may see this as a way to get much needed foreign currency and security support from Russia in return for joining Russia's war against Ukraine.
"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," said Ahn Chan-il, a former North Korean army first lieutenant who is now head of the World Institute for North Korean Studies think tank in Seoul.
NATO envoys to Hungary discuss PM Orban’s Russia and China policies, US envoy says
01:00
Tara Cobham
Ambassadors and defence attaches of NATO members based in Budapest met on Wednesday at the US embassy to discuss Hungary's policy of "economic neutrality", including its ties with Russia and China, the embassy said.
The meeting came a day before Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto was due to speak at a security conference in the Belarusian capital Minsk, where other participants include Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has been seeking to attract Chinese EV and battery manufacturing plants to Hungary, says his country, a member of NATO and the European Union, does not want to be squeezed into any bloc and wants to keep trading with Russia and China as well as its Western partners.
Orban, whose government has maintained close ties with Moscow during the war in Ukraine despite the EU trying to isolate Russia, has said Budapest will opt for a strategy of "economic neutrality".
The US embassy said Wednesday's meeting discussed "the security aspects" of this policy, with Ambassador David Pressman again criticising the Hungarian government's ties with Russia and China.
"Hungary's newly announced policy of economic neutrality and its growing dependencies on Moscow and Beijing have security implications for the United States and Euro-Atlantic interests. We appreciated the opportunity to discuss Hungary's new policy with our Allies," Pressman said according to a statement.
Orban's chief of staff told a briefing in response to the ambassador's comments that he suggested Pressman "study the U.S.-China trade volumes as those have been growing massively".
EU says Georgia must change course before EU membership talks can begin
Wednesday 30 October 2024 23:00
Tara Cobham
The European Commission on Wednesday told Georgia that it will not be able to recommend opening European Union membership talks with the country unless it changes course, while praising Ukraine and Moldova’s efforts to implement reforms in a challenging environment.
Georgia's governing party, seen by many western governments as increasingly Moscow-friendly, won a parliamentary election on Saturday that was marred by reports of voting violations, as Moldova prepares for a presidential runoff election on Sunday that pits a pro-Western incumbent against a candidate backed by a traditionally pro-Russian party.
In an annual report on the bloc’s enlargement policy, the Commission reiterated that Georgia’s accession process has de facto been halted due to factors such as legislation that requires organisations receiving more than 20 per cent of their funding from abroad to register as agents of foreign influence and "strong anti-EU narratives."
Pointing to international observers’ reports of voter intimidation and procedural inconsistencies in Georgia’s election, the Commission said there is a need for electoral reform and that "constructive and inclusive dialogue across the political spectrum is now paramount".
"The EU remains committed to further deepen the partnership," the report said, warning that "unless Georgia reverts the current course of action the Commission will not be in a position to consider recommending opening negotiations with Georgia."
The report pointed to progress in Ukraine and Moldova, which began accession talks with the EU earlier this year, noting however that more work needs to be done.
"Despite progress on fundamental reforms, further efforts are needed," the Commission said, regarding Ukraine's process.
In Moldova, the Commission said additional efforts are necessary to implement a 'deoligarchisation' plan.
The Commission said it is "looking forward to the opening of negotiations on clusters, starting with the fundamentals, as soon as possible in 2025" for both countries if conditions are met.
Russian-led CSTO military bloc to hold drills in Belarus in Sept 2025, Belarus says
Wednesday 30 October 2024 21:00
Tara Cobham
The Collective Security Treaty Organisation, a Russian-led post-Soviet military bloc, plans to hold exercises in Belarus in September 2025, the Belarusian Defence Ministry said on Wednesday.
Prosecutors seek a 17-year prison term for Pentagon secrets leaker Jack Teixeira
Wednesday 30 October 2024 19:00
Tara Cobham
Prosecutors plan to argue that a Massachusetts Air National Guard member who pleaded guilty to leaking highly classified military documents about the war in Ukraine should serve nearly 17 years in prison.
In a sentencing memorandum filed Tuesday, prosecutors said Jack Teixeira "perpetrated one of the most significant and consequential violations of the Espionage Act in American history”.
"As both a member of the United States Armed Forces and a clearance holder, the defendant took an oath to defend the United States and to protect its secrets — secrets that are vital to US national security and the physical safety of Americans serving overseas," prosecutors wrote. "Teixeira violated his oath, almost every day, for over a year."
Teixeira's attorneys will argue that US District Judge Indira Talwani should sentence him to 11 years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced 12 November.
In their sentencing memorandum, they acknowledged that their client "made a terrible decision which he repeated over 14 months."
"It's a crime that deserves serious consequences," the attorneys wrote. "Jack has thoroughly accepted responsibility for the wrongfulness of his actions and stands ready to accept whatever punishment must now be imposed."
Teixeira, of North Dighton, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in March to six counts of the willful retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act nearly a year after he was arrested in the most consequential national security leak in years.
The 22-year-old admitted that he illegally collected some of the nation's most sensitive secrets and shared them with other users on the social media platform Discord.
Poland’s commission looking into Russian influences finds ex-defence minister at fault
Wednesday 30 October 2024 17:00
Tara Cobham
The head of a special commission investigating Russian and Belarusian influences in Poland has said that it will refer to prosecutors a former defence minister whose decisions it said impaired Poland's defences ahead of Russia's 2022 war on Ukraine.
The commission was launched in May by the pro-European Union government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk to investigate cases of Russia and Belarus exerting influence on Poland's politics since 2004.
Tusk and other officials say Poland, a key ally of Ukraine, is facing intensified hybrid attacks from Russia and its neighbor and ally Belarus that include acts of sabotage, cyberattacks and growing migrant pressure along the Poland-Belarus border.
Poland's previous government was in the hands of the conservative Law and Justice party, which put Poland at odds with the EU, chiefly over changes to the country's justice system and rule-of-law principles. The current administration has been taking steps to hold officials of the previous government accountable for what it says are serious irregularities.
On Wednesday, Gen. Jaroslaw Stróżyk, head of the commission and the Military Counterintelligence Service, presented the first unclassified conclusions that saw some of the former government's decisions as potentially hurting Poland's interests.
He said that some of the documents the commission has reviewed suggest the existence of "direct influence" by Russia, without providing further details. He said many of the documents remain classified.
Stróżyk said that Antoni Macierewicz, defence minister in 2015-18, without any analysis or consultation, cancelled plans to purchase seven tanker aircraft for Poland's F-16 jet fighters, thus reducing their airborne time and defense capabilities.
The commission said the decision was dictated by Macierewicz's "personal aversion to partners in the EU" and called it a "diplomatic treason." Stróżyk said the commission will refer the former defence minister to prosecutors, who will decide whether to take further action.
The commission also blamed Macierewicz for hurting operations handled by Poland's special services and intelligence by closing 10 of their 15 regional bureaus in 2017.
Stróżyk said the commission found no signs that the previous government held any debates or took any pro-defence decisions in response to US warnings that Russia was preparing to attack neighboring Ukraine.
Macierewicz on Wednesday dismissed the report, calling it "absurd”.
Zelenskyy expects Ramstein meeting on Ukraine aid in coming weeks
Wednesday 30 October 2024 16:17
Tara Cobham
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the next meeting of the Ramstein group that coordinates military support for Ukraine should be held in the coming weeks.
Initially scheduled for October, the highest level meeting to date of the Ramstein group was postponed after US President Joe Biden cancelled his trip to Germany because of hurricane in his country.
"We are also already seeing the contours of the Ramstein meeting, which should take place in the coming weeks," Zelenskyy said in his evening address on Wednesday.
Ukraine has received only 10% of latest approved aid from US, Zelenskyy says
Wednesday 30 October 2024 15:43
Tara Cobham
Ukraine has received only 10 per cent of US military aid approved by Congress earlier this year, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video released on Wednesday.
Russia, which sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, has accelerated its advances in the east and Kyiv's military is outgunned and outmanned by its more powerful foe.
Ukraine is also bracing for what could be the toughest winter of the war after long-range Russian airstrikes destroyed what officials say is about half of its power generating capacity.
"You do your job. You count on reserves, you count on special brigades, you count on such equipment. And if you get 10 per cent of all the package (that) has already been voted on... it's not funny," Zelenskyy said in remarks in English to Nordic journalists on Tuesday that were published in full on his Telegram page on Wednesday.
A $61 billion aid package from the United States, stalled by Republicans in Congress from December last year, was approved in April.
Zelenskiy added that the slow pace of weapons supplies was not a question of funding. "It’s always the question of bureaucracy or logistics, ideas or scepticism... This we will give you, this - will not," he said.
He also said that NATO countries had pledged to supply Ukraine with six or seven air defence systems, which Ukraine increasingly relies on to repel long-range Russian strikes, by the beginning of September but that Kyiv had not yet received all of them.
US cracks down on Russia sanctions evasion in fresh action
Wednesday 30 October 2024 15:14
Tara Cobham
The United States has imposed curbs on hundreds of targets in fresh action against Russia, taking aim at sanctions circumvention in a signal that the US is committed to countering evasion.
The action, taken by the US Treasury and State departments, imposed sanctions on nearly 400 entities and individuals from over a dozen different countries, according to statements from the Treasury and State departments.
The action was the most concerted push so far against third country evasion, a State Department official told Reuters. It included sanctions on dozens of Chinese, Hong Kong and Indian companies, the most from those countries to be hit in one package so far, according to the official. Also hit with sanctions were targets in Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Thailand, Malaysia, Switzerland and elsewhere.
The action comes as Washington has sought to curb Russia's evasion of the sanctions imposed after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The US has repeatedly warned against supplying Russia with Common High Priority Items - advanced components including microelectronics deemed by the US and European Union as likely to be used for Russia's war in Ukraine.
"This should send a serious message to both the governments and the private sectors of these countries that the US government is committed to countering the evasion of our sanctions against Russia and to continue putting pressure on Russia to end its war in Ukraine," the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.
The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 274 targets, while the State Department designated more than 120 and the Commerce Department added 40 companies and research institutions to a trade restriction list over their alleged support of the Russian military.
"The United States and our allies will continue to take decisive action across the globe to stop the flow of critical tools and technologies that Russia needs to wage its illegal and immoral war against Ukraine," Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in the statement.
UK’s chancellor pledges more cash for defence spending
Wednesday 30 October 2024 14:30
Tara Cobham
The UK’s chancellor Rachel Reeves has pledged to provide the defence ministry with an additional £2.9billion next year and promised an annual £3billion support for Ukraine would continue for "as long as it takes".
In her first Budget speech presented on Wednesday, Ms Reeves said the extra spending would take Britain towards its goal of allocating 2.5 per cent of GDP towards defence, and ensure the country exceeded the NATO commitment of spending 2 per cent.
She added that the promise to maintain the annual military support to Ukraine came on top of a £2.26billion loan, part of the G7's Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration agreement announced last week, to aid the country in its war against Russia.
Zelenskyy strongly hints Ukraine seeking Tomahawk missiles from US
Wednesday 30 October 2024 14:00
Tara Cobham
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has strongly suggested that Kyiv has requested supplies of long-range US Tomahawk missiles, as he made critical remarks about "confidential" information he said had been leaked.
Tomahawk missiles have a range of 2,500 km (1,550 miles), far greater than any missile Ukraine currently has in its arsenal. Such a weapons delivery would almost certainly be seen by Russia as an escalation in its war in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy travelled to the United States last month to pitch a "victory plan" to President Joe Biden, which he said could help pressure Moscow to negotiate an end to the war in good faith.
The Ukrainian leader has since said the plan envisages a "non-nuclear deterrence package" that would only be used if Moscow does not end its full-scale invasion and continues to escalate the conflict.
Some of the plan's details have been kept confidential, something Zelenskyy alluded to in remarks in English to Nordic journalists on Tuesday that were published in full on his Telegram page on Wednesday.
The New York Times also cited a senior US official on Tuesday as saying that Zelenskyy had asked for Tomahawk missiles, something the official said was totally unfeasible.
Zelenskyy: Russia won in Georgia, ‘on its way’ to doing same in Moldova
Wednesday 30 October 2024 13:30
Tara Cobham
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the West should admit Russia has "won" in Georgia and is on its way to doing the same in Moldova unless Western rhetoric against crossing Moscow's red lines was dropped.
"We have to recognise in Georgia for today Russia won. First, they took part of Georgia, then they changed policy, the government. And now [Georgia] has a pro-Russian government," he said in English in a video released on Wednesday.
He added that Russia was "on the way" to doing the same in Moldova. "And they will do, if of course the West will not stop dialogue [against] crossing of red lines," Zelenskiy said.
Russia claims UK using Black Sea corridor to supply Ukraine with arms
Wednesday 30 October 2024 13:02
Tara Cobham
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.
Watch: Putin launches drills of Russia’s nuclear forces
Wednesday 30 October 2024 12:57
Tara Cobham
Germany talked with China about North Korean soldiers in Russia
Wednesday 30 October 2024 12:07
Tara Cobham
Germany discussed with China findings by NATO and the United States that North Korean soldiers are in Russia, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday.
"You can assume that we have discussed the issue with the Chinese side," the spokesperson said.
China and Russia discuss Ukraine crisis with Beijing reaffirming strong ties
Wednesday 30 October 2024 11:30
Tara Cobham
China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko discussed the Ukraine crisis in talks on Wednesday and Wang reaffirmed Beijing's strong ties with Moscow, the Chinese foreign ministry said.
Both exchanged views on the crisis but the ministry statement did not disclose details of the discussion.
Wang reiterated China and Russia's strong relations, that were not affected by "changes in the international situation".
"Both sides should make joint efforts to coordinate cooperation in various fields and exchanges at all levels," he said, without elaboration.
Russia's RIA agency first reported that Rudenko was in Beijing for the meeting.
The visit takes place as Russia's war in Ukraine appeared to take a dangerous new turn, with NATO and South Korea expressing alarm that North Korean troops could soon be joining Moscow's side.
Rudenko has been involved in developing Russian ties with North Korea after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion on Ukraine in February 2022. He was also a member of the Russian delegations at peace negotiations with Ukraine early in the war.
Russia fines Google $2,500,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
Wednesday 30 October 2024 11:00
Tara Cobham
A Russian court has fined Google $2.5 decillion for allegedly blocking pro-Kremlin propaganda on YouTube.
The fine, which is the equivalent of $2.5 trillion trillion trillion, is the result of four years of accumulated fines, with the figure currently doubling every week under Russian law.
The original penalty of 100,000 rubles was handed to the US tech giant in 2020 after the media outlets Tsargrad and RIA FAN won lawsuits related to restrictions on their YouTube channels.
Anthony Cuthbertson reports:
North Korean and Russian foreign ministers to hold Moscow talks
Wednesday 30 October 2024 10:37
Tara Cobham
North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui will hold strategic consultations in Moscow with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, Russia's Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday.
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the ministry, told a news briefing the North Korean minister was on her way to Moscow and that details of her talks with Lavrov, including the exact timing, would be released later.
"In accordance with the agreement reached during the Russian-Korean summit meeting in Pyongyang in June, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Choe Son Hui, is arriving in Moscow on an official visit to hold strategic consultations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov," Zakharova said.
The visit, the minister's second to Russia in six weeks, comes as the Russia-Ukraine war appears to have taken a dangerous new turn, with NATO and South Korea expressing alarm that North Korean troops could soon be joining in on Moscow's side.
North Korea's foreign minister arrived in Russia's far east on Tuesday on her way to Moscow, Russian state media said.
The Kremlin, which on Wednesday referred a question about her visit to the foreign ministry, has said Russian President Vladimir Putin has no plans to meet her.
Russian government officials have said Moscow has every right to develop its relations with Pyongyang as it sees fit, including under the terms of a mutual defence clause agreed earlier this year.
Kremlin dismisses report about Russia-Ukraine talks on halting strikes on energy facilities
Wednesday 30 October 2024 10:06
Tara Cobham
The Kremlin has dismissed a report that Russia and Ukraine are in the early stages of negotiations about potentially halting airstrikes on each other's energy facilities.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that there were many reports out there "which have nothing to do with reality".
The Financial Times, citing sources who it said included senior Ukrainian officials, reported that Ukraine was seeking to resume talks that had come close to an agreement in August and were mediated by Qatar.
Russia says it takes control of village of Kruhliakivka in eastern Ukraine, state news agency reports
Wednesday 30 October 2024 09:25
Tara Cobham
Russian forces have taken control of the settlement of Kruhliakivka in eastern Ukraine's Kharkiv region, the RIA news agency cited Russia's Defence Ministry as saying on Wednesday.
The battlefield report from the Russian state-owned news agency could not be independently verified.
North Korean troops sent to fight in Ukraine may welcome rare tour
Wednesday 30 October 2024 09:00
Tara Cobham
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.
“They are too young and won’t understand exactly what it means. They’ll just consider it an honor to be selected as the ones to go to Russia among the many North Korean soldiers,” said Lee Woong-gil, a former member of the same special forces unit, the Storm Corps. He came to South Korea in 2007. “But I think most of them won’t likely come back home alive.”
Hyung-Jin Kim reports:
In pictures: Russian drone strike hits Kyiv
Wednesday 30 October 2024 08:41
Tara Cobham
Pentagon issues North Korea warning as 10,000 troops set to join Russia’s war in coming weeks
Wednesday 30 October 2024 08:00
Arpan Rai
North Korea has sent about 10,000 troops to Russia who could join Moscow‘s fight in Ukraine in the “next several weeks”, the Pentagon said amid rising concerns over Pyongyong’s involvement in Vladimir Putin’s war.
The soldiers were believed to be heading for the border region of Kursk, where Moscow recently suffered defeats and has been struggling to push back Ukrainian troops, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Sigh said on Monday.
On Tuesday, South Korean lawmakers, briefed by the country’s spy agency, said some high-ranking North Korean military officials and troops deployed to Russia might move to the frontline.
North Korea likely to launch ICBM as early as November, say South Korean lawmakers
Wednesday 30 October 2024 07:50
Arpan Rai
North Korea might proceed with an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch as early as November following the deployment of a mobile launcher, South Korean officials warned on Wednesday.
Citing information from military intelligence, South Korean parliamentarians revealed that North Korea appears prepared to test the ballistic missiles, also known as ICBM, and its atmospheric re-entry capabilities.
South Korea may send team to Ukraine to monitor North Korean troops
Wednesday 30 October 2024 07:24
Arpan Rai
South Korea aims to send a team to Ukraine to monitor and analyse the deployment of North Korean troops by Russia, a presidential official said today.
The official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, said Seoul and its allies estimated at least 11,000 North Korean soldiers had been moved to Russia with more than 3,000 of them now deployed close to the front lines in Ukraine.
Russia’s 19th air attack on Kyiv this month injures nine
Wednesday 30 October 2024 07:10
Arpan Rai
Russia struck Ukraine’s capital for the 19th time this morning, leaving nine people injured. Several apartments set ablaze and a kindergarten was damaged, officials in Kyiv said today.
“Nineteen air attacks on Kyiv in October!” Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, said. “Overnight, Russian drones again flew over the capital.”
Falling debris from a destroyed drone sparked a fire in a multi-storey apartment building in Kyiv’s western district of Solomianskyi and injured at least nine people, including an 11-year-old girl, mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.
“All of them were treated by medics on the spot,” Mr Klitschko said.
Around 19 people were evacuated from the building, said the city’s military administration, which also posted photographs of a building with blown-out windows and damaged facade that it described as a kindergarten in Solomianskyi.
Russia strikes Ukraine's 2 biggest cities in its latest barrage, officials say
Wednesday 30 October 2024 06:30
Rachel Hagan
Russian drones, missiles and bombs smashed into Kyiv and Kharkiv, Ukraine’s biggest cities, in nighttime attacks, killing four people and wounding 15 in a continuing aerial onslaught, authorities said Tuesday.
Russia has bombarded civilian areas of Ukraine almost daily since its full-scale invasion of its neighbor almost three years ago, causing thousands of casualties. The Russian army is also pushing hard against front-line defenses in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was expected to speak about that new threat at a meeting Tuesday in Reykjavik with the leaders of Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
A Russian aerial attack struck Kharkiv, in Ukraine’s northeast, at around 3 a.m., hitting a house and killing four people, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said. Nearly 20 houses were damaged in the attack, he said.
Several hours earlier, Russia dropped a glide bomb on the landmark Derzhprom building in Kharkiv city center, injuring seven people, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.
Derzhprom, also known as the Palace of Industry, is included in UNESCO’s World Heritage List as an example of modernist architecture.
Terekhov said that Russia has concentrated attacks on Kharkiv in recent days. He urged people not to ignore air raid warnings.
Authorities in Kyiv said debris from intercepted Russian drones fell on two city districts, injuring six people.
In photos: Daily life in Donetsk under Russian invasion
Wednesday 30 October 2024 06:15
Arpan Rai
Ukraine destroys 33 Russian drones overnight
Wednesday 30 October 2024 05:53
Arpan Rai
Ukrainian air defence units destroyed 33 of the 62 drones that Russia launched overnight, Ukraine’s air forces said today.
Another 25 of the drones were unaccounted for, with some likely to had been intercepted by Ukraine’s electronic warfare measures, the air force said.
It was not immediately clear what happened to the remaining four drones.
Russia says it destroyed 23 Ukrainian drones overnight
Wednesday 30 October 2024 05:39
Arpan Rai
Russia’s air defence units destroyed 23 Ukrainian drones overnight over several western Russian regions, the Russian defence ministry said.
Of these, seven Ukrainian drones were destroyed over the Rostov region, five over the Kursk region, four over the Smolensk region and the rest over the Oryol, Bryansk and Belgorod regions, the ministry said
Russian drone attack on Kyiv injures nine
Wednesday 30 October 2024 05:15
Arpan Rai
At least nine people were injured, including an 11-year-old girl, and several apartments were on fire after a Russian drone attack on Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said this morning.
Falling debris from a destroyed drone sparked a fire in a multi-storey apartment building in the Solomianskyi district in Kyiv’s west, mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
“So far, nine people have been injured,” Mr Klitschko said. “All of them were treated by medics on the spot.”
The military administration of Kyiv posted a photo of flames bursting out of a flat in an apartment building. It also said that another fire broke out in a multi-storey administrative building in the Solomianskyi district.
Reuters witnesses heard a series of explosions in Kyiv in what sounded like air defence units in operation.
Kyiv, its surrounding region and nearly the whole eastern half of Ukraine were under air raid alerts from around 1.30am GMT.
North Korean defectors set to join Ukraine to fight Putin’s invasion – report
Wednesday 30 October 2024 05:06
Arpan Rai
Around 200 defectors from North Korea are keen to join Ukraine’s fight against Russia, a new report said.
“We are all military veterans who understand North Korea’s military culture and psychological state better than anyone else,” said a 69-year-old Ahn Chan-il told the South China Morning Post. Several members of the group of defectors all have several years of military experience.
This comes as the Pentagon estimated 10,000 North Korean troops had been deployed to eastern Russia for training, up from an estimate of 3,000 troops last week.
The US has confirmed some North Korean soldiers were in the Kursk region, a Russian border area where Ukrainian forces staged a major incursion in August and hold hundreds of square kilometres of territory.
South Korean officials have said some of the North Korean troops may have been moved to the frontline and expressed worry about what Russia may be providing to Pyongyang in return.
Are North Koreans troops in Ukraine? What we know about Kim Jong-un’s soldiers joining Russia’s war
Wednesday 30 October 2024 04:50
Arpan Rai
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.
Chechen leader vows revenge after drone attack
Wednesday 30 October 2024 04:30
Rachel Hagan
The notorious Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has promised to take revenge for a drone attack that caused a fire at a military training academy in his south Russian region.
Ukraine has frequently struck Russia with drones in the course of the war, but Tuesday’s attack appeared to be the first against Chechnya.
Kadyrov told reporters in a video published by the Russian state news agency RIA: “They’ve bitten us - we will destroy them. In the very near future we’ll show them the kind of vengeance they’ve never even dreamt of.”
Earlier, Kadyrov posted on Telegram that the drone strike had set fire to the roof of what he said was an empty building at the “special forces university” in the city of Gudermes. There were no casualties, he said.
'Good many' of North Korean troops already in action in Ukraine, official says
Wednesday 30 October 2024 03:50
Arpan Rai
Two western intelligence officials have said a number of North Korean troops are already inside Ukraine, reported CNN.
“It seems that a good many of them are already in action,” the official said, without elaborating on a number of North Korean forces fighting in Ukraine war.
The officials said they are expecting the number of North Korean soldiers inside Ukraine to grow as they complete training in eastern Russia and await deployment on the war frontline.
The US confirmed yesterday that some North Korean soldiers were in the Kursk region, a Russian border area where Ukrainian forces staged a major incursion in August and hold hundreds of square kilometres of territory.
A couple of thousand more were heading there, the Pentagon said.
Russian drill simulates "massive" response to a nuclear strike
Wednesday 30 October 2024 03:30
Rachel Hagan
Russia held a training exercise on Tuesday to simulate a “massive nuclear strike” in response to a first strike by an enemy, Defence Minister Andrei Belousov said.
President Vladimir Putin kicked off the exercise at a critical point in the Ukraine war. The drill, which Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said was a regular, planned event, involved the launch of ballistic and cruise missiles.
As part of the exercise, a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northwest Russia to the Kura test range in Kamchatka in the far east, the defence ministry said.
Sineva and Bulava ballistic missiles were fired from submarines in the Barents and Okhotsk Seas. Tu-95MS strategic bomber planes, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, launched cruise missiles.
All the missiles reached their targets, the defence ministry said.
Trudeau warns over North Korea role in Ukraine war
Wednesday 30 October 2024 03:02
Arpan Rai
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said the deployment of North Korean troops in the Ukraine conflict will likely escalate the war waged by Russia.
His remarks were made on a phone call with South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol’s office yesterday.
The war will leave a greater impact on the security environment of Europe and the Indo-Pacific, Trudeau said, proposing closer cooperation between the two countries on the developing situation, according to Mr Yoon’s office.
“Prime minister Trudeau sai