Ukraine-Russia war latest: Russia sends nuclear warning to Trump as ‘North Korean soldier dies in Ukraine’
South Korea, Ukraine and the US previously accused Pyongyang of sending thousands of soldiers to help Russia
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Your support makes all the difference.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.
Mr Ryabkov told the Kommersant newspaper: “The international situation is extremely difficult at the moment, the American policy in its various aspects is extremely hostile to us today.
“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 rule anything out.”
It comes as an injured North Korean soldier captured by Ukrainian forces died, Yonhap News Agency has reported, citing a statement from South Korea’s spy agency.
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.
Russia claims it foiled several Ukrainian plots to kill senior officers with disguised bombs
Azerbaijan Airlines crash: was this another military shoot-down of a civil aircraft?
Russia plays down speculation over cause of Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Kazakhstan
Ukraine's military intelligence says North Korean troops suffer heavy battlefield losses
Russian air defence likely behind Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash that killed 38 people, military experts say
Russian air defence likely behind deadly Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash, experts say
Russia has downplayed speculation that its military was behind the Azerbaijan Airlines crash in Kazakhstan
Putin’s Christmas Day attacks were designed to show ruthless force – but they may backfire
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:
How Putin’s ‘ruthless’ Christmas Day attacks on Ukraine may backfire
Editorial: 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
ICYMI: Russian drone attack kills two in Ukraine’s Donetsk region and several injured in Dnipropetrovsk
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
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
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
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
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
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:
Russia plays down speculation over cause of Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash
Russia plays down speculation over cause of Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash
Watch: Ukrainian soldiers celebrate Christmas on frontline of war
Russia declares federal emergency over Black Sea oil spill
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.
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