Ukraine-Russia war latest: North Korea troops arrive in Russia as Zelensky says Nato invite only way to end war
On the frontline, Ukraine’s air defences shoot down 80 out of 135 Russian drones
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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 urged 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.
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Foreign secretary David Lammy urges China against supporting Russia’s military
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
Everything we know about North Korean troops joining Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
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.
Everything we know about North Korean troops joining Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Volodymyr Zelensky claims North Korea is preparing to send 10,000 soldiers to fight alongside Russian military, calling it the ‘first step to a world war’
North Korean troops in Russia readying for combat, South Korea says
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’
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.”
Don’t tremble at Putin’s threats, Ukraine urges West
Ukraine president sought vital backing from the EU and Nato in a hectic day of Brussels diplomacy
Russia may be loud but Nato is strong, says alliance’s new chief
“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'
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
World is at a dangerous moment as conflicts spread, UN rights chief says
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:
The world is at a dangerous moment as conflicts spread, UN rights chief says
The U_N_ human rights chief is warning that the world is at an especially dangerous moment in history, with disregard and disrespect for international law “is reaching a deafening crescendo.”
Russia flaunts its many doomsday weapons to keep the West from ramping up support for Ukraine
Russia flaunts its many doomsday weapons to keep the West from ramping up support for Ukraine
This year has seen President Vladimir Putin repeatedly brandish the nuclear sword, reminding everyone that Russia has the world’s largest atomic arsenal in order to deter the West from ramping up support for Ukraine
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