Ukraine-Russia war live: Russian missile hits Dnipro as Zelensky warns of North Korean troops joining Putin
Russian missile strikes residential areas and a medical facility killing three including an eight-year-old girl and a teenage boy
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A Russian missile attack hit residences and a medical facility in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Friday evening, killing three people and injuring at least nine, regional governor Serhiy Lysak said.
Mr Lysak, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said an eight-year-old girl and a teenage boy and were among the injured.
North Korean troops will be deployed into Ukraine to fight with Russian forces as early as this weekend, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky claimed on Friday.
This would be a major escalation in the war with geopolitical consequences now reaching the Indo-Pacific region, western officials warned, as the grinding conflict approaches three years.
Ukrainian intelligence had determined that “the first North Korean military will be used by Russia in combat zones” between Sunday and Monday, Mr Zelensky said. He added that it was an “obvious escalating move by Russia”, but provided no further details on where North Korean troops might be sent.
Vladimir Putin has not denied the presence of North Korean troops in Ukraine as he wrapped up the Brics summit in Kazan, heavily overshadowed by Ukraine war talks.
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Russia targets Kyiv in overnight drone attack
Russia sent two waves of drones at the Ukrainian capital overnight in its 15th air attack on Kyiv this month, city officials said on Friday morning.
More than a dozen drones were downed during the strike, which lasted around four hours, city military administrator Serhiy Popko said on Telegram.
He added that authorities had not received any reports of injuries and that debris had ignited a fire that was later extinguished.
Reuters correspondents reported hearing multiple explosions over the city early on Friday.
Russia making swift advance into east Ukraine’s Selydove
Russian forces have made a fast advance into the eastern Ukrainian coal mining town of Selydove, according to Russian media and war bloggers.
“The enemy’s defences crumbled suddenly,” said Yuri Podolyaka, a prominent Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger. Other pro-Russian bloggers gave similar accounts, and said that Russia was now in control of part of Selydove.
The Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper said that Russian forces were approaching the centre of Selydove, which had a population of over 20,000 before the war.
Ukraine’s General Staff of the Armed Forces said the most intense Russian assaults along the entire front line were currently taking place in the vicinity of Selydove, and that Russia used both fighter and bomber aircraft to support its attack there.
The General Staff did not say whether or not the Russians were in the town or if Ukrainian forces had fallen back.
A Ukrainian frontline mapping project known as DeepState showed in its map Russian forces controlling the eastern outskirts of Selydove, while a significant chunk of its centre was assessed as a disputed “grey zone”.
Capturing Selydove would pave the way for a Russian advance on the key logistical hub of Pokrovsk, located about 20km (12 miles) northwest of Selydove.
Putin welcomes Trump’s offer to end conflict in Ukraine
Vladimir Putin was asked about former US president Donald Trump’s promise to end the fighting in Ukraine at a news conference last might “What Mr Trump said recently, what I heard, (is) he spoke about the desire to do everything to end the conflict in Ukraine,” Putin said. “It seems to me that he said it sincerely. We certainly welcome statements of this kind, no matter who makes them.”
If the United States was open to normal relations with Russia, Moscow would be as well, Mr Putin added.
Mapped: Where has Russia made advances on the frontline in Ukraine?
Mapped: Where has Russia made advances on the frontline in Ukraine?
Ukraine’s military say the hottest fighting along the roughly 640-mile frontline is taking place on the outskirts of the eastern city of Selydove
Watch: Furious Vladimir Putin blasts BBC journalist Steve Rosenberg when challenged at press conference
Furious Vladimir Putin blasts BBC journalist when challenged at press conference
A furious Vladimir Putin blasted BBC journalist Steve Rosenberg when challenged at a post BRICS press conference. Putin was asked whether the Ukraine war went against the values put forward by the BRICS of justice, regional stability and security, and a fair world on Thursday (24 October). It was the final question introduced by Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov who smiled as he claimed the BBC was “a rare guest these days”. Putin hit back at the question saying: “Is it fair that for years our (Western) partners for years ignored our constant appeals not to expand NATO to the East? To lie to our face and violate all their obligations... to get into Ukraine and build military bases?”
North Korean units already in Kursk region, says Kyiv intelligence
Ukraine’s military intelligence service said the first North Korean units trained in Russia had been deployed in the Kursk region, a Russian border area where Ukrainian forces staged a major incursion in August.
“The first units of the military from the DPRK, which were trained at the eastern Russian training grounds, have already arrived in the combat zone of the Russian-Ukrainian war. In particular, on 23 October, 2024, their presence was recorded in the Kursk region,” the Ukrainian intelligence agency said in a statement.
It said a total of around 12,000 North Korean troops, including 500 officers and three generals, were already in Russia, and training was taking place on five military bases.
Russian deputy defence minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov was appointed responsible for overseeing the training of North Korean military, the agency said.
The Kremlin has previously dismissed reports about the North’s troop deployment as “fake news”. But Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that it was Moscow’s business how to implement a partnership treaty with Pyongyang.
Putin neither confirms nor denies North Korean boots in Russia
Vladimir Putin was asked about whether any North Korean troops were in Russia, which he neither confirmed nor denied. The US on Wednesday said that 3,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia and are training at several locations.
“Images are a serious thing, if there are images, then they reflect something,” he said when asked about satellite photos of troops.
Mr Putin noted that lawmakers in Moscow earlier in the day ratified a pact with North Korea on mutual military assistance as part of a “strategic partnership” with Pyongyang.
“We have never doubted that the North Korean leadership takes our agreements seriously. What and how we will do within the framework of this article (of the agreement) is our business,” he said.
Putin ends Brics summit overshadowed by Ukraine
Vladimir Putin closed a summit of the Brics bloc of developing economies on Thursday night, praising its role as a counterbalance to what he called the West’s “perverse methods.”
The three-day summit in the city of Kazan was attended by leaders or representatives of 36 countries, highlighting the failure of US-led efforts to isolate Russia over its actions in Ukraine.
The conflict came up repeatedly at the meeting, which saw the first visit to Russia from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in more than two years and drew an angry reaction from Kyiv.
Mr Guterres called for “a just peace” in Ukraine, in line with the UN Charter, international law and General Assembly resolutions. He also urged an immediate end to the fighting in Gaza, Lebanon and Sudan.
At a news conference last night, Mr Putin was asked about former US president Donald Trump’s promise to end the fighting in Ukraine.
“What Mr Trump said recently, what I heard, (is) he spoke about the desire to do everything to end the conflict in Ukraine,” Mr Putin said. “It seems to me that he said it sincerely. We certainly welcome statements of this kind, no matter who makes them.”
G7 allies are moving ahead with a $50 billion loan for Ukraine backed by frozen Russian funds
G7 allies are moving ahead with a $50 billion loan for Ukraine backed by frozen Russian funds
The White House says Group of Seven allies are moving forward with providing Ukraine with $50 billion in loans for Ukraine backed by frozen Russian assets
Zelensky rejects visit by UN chief
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected a visit by Antonio Guterres, following the UN chief’s participation in the BRICS summit in Russia, AFP have reported.
Although Guterres called for a “just peace”, images of him hugging Belarusian president and Russia-ally Alexander Lukashenko and shaking Russian president Vladimir Putin’s hand are believed to have gone down badly.
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