Ukraine-Russia war live: North Korean troops ‘already in Ukraine’ as Kyiv drafts 160,000 more into frontline
Number of North Korean soldiers inside Ukraine set to grow, Western intelligence official adds
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North Korean troops are reportedly already inside Ukraine.
“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.
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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.
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North Korean and Russian foreign ministers to hold Moscow talks
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
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
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
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:
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Pentagon issues North Korea warning as 10,000 troops set to join Russia’s war in coming weeks
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.
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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.
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South Korea may send team to Ukraine to monitor North Korean troops
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.
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