Ukraine-Russia war live: Some North Koreans ‘already in Ukraine’ as Kyiv drafts 160,000 troops
Number of North Korean soldiers inside Ukraine is expected to grow, officials say
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A “good many” North Korean troops are already inside Ukraine, reported CNN, citing western intelligence officials.
“It seems that a good many of them are already in action,” the official said, without elaborating on the number of North Korean forces fighting on behalf of Russian president Vladimir Putin in the Ukraine war.
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, the officials said.
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.
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.
This comes as Ukraine drafted 160,000 more troops in the anticipation of grinding warfare and a frozen battle zone in the upcoming winter – third such under Russian invasion.
Are North Koreans troops in Ukraine? What we know about Kim Jong-un’s soldiers joining Russia’s war
Finland president calls North Korean troops deployed to Russia an ‘escalation’
Pentagon issues North Korea warning as 10,000 troops set to join Russia’s war in coming weeks
Mapped: Where has Russia made advances on the frontline in Ukraine?
US and South Korean defence chiefs to meet on Thursday
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin and secretary of state Antony Blinken will meet with their South Korean counterparts on Thursday in Washington.
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said Mr Austin and defence minister Kim Yong-hyun will discuss the deployment of North Korean soldiers in Ukraine.
Warning that there will be no limitations on the use of US-provided weapons on those forces, Ms Singh said: “If we see DPRK troops moving in towards the front lines, they are co-belligerents in the war. This is a calculation that North Korea has to make.”
Norway announces purchase of air defence missiles from US
Norway has agreed with US authorities to buy air defence missiles for more than 4 billion Norwegian crowns (£280m), the Norwegian military has said, as it ramps up defence spending in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“With more and newer missiles, the Norwegian Armed Forces will have a better ability to protect Norway against air attacks,” Nato member Norway’s defence minister Bjoern Arild Gram said.
The missiles – which mark one of the largest weapons procurements ever for Norway’s armed forces – are primarily intended for Norway’s ground-based air defence system, but can also be included in the weapons inventory of F-35A fighter aircraft, the agency said.
In wartime Ukraine, football fans bury rivalries and find a moment of calm at matches
At football games in Ukraine, crowd sizes are determined by the capacity of the nearest bomb shelter.
For the first time since the full-scale war began in 2022, the Ukrainian Premier League is holding a full season with fans present, as martial-law bans on public gatherings have been eased.
Despite the constant threat of airstrikes, Dynamo Kyiv supporters eagerly snap up the 1,700 tickets available for each home game at the 16,000-seat Valeriy Lobanovskyi Stadium. Many fans are keen to experience a rare moment of calm, free from the country’s traditionally intense sporting rivalries.
In wartime Ukraine, soccer fans bury rivalries and find a moment of calm at matches
Ukraine’s Premier League is holding its first full season with fans present since the start of the full-scale war in 2022, with crowd sizes limited by the capacity of nearby bomb shelters
Ukraine’s Premier League is holding its first full season with fans present since the start of the full-scale war in 2022, with crowd sizes limited by the capacity of nearby bomb shelters
Trump could look to Minsk-type deal to end Ukraine war, report suggests
If elected US president, Donald Trump could seek to reimagine the Minsk agreements, which aimed to end the fighting in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and 2015 between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists, a longtime adviser has told the Financial Times.
But this time there would be enforcement mechanisms with consequences for breaching the deal, policed by European troops – as opposed to Nato or UN peacekeeping forces, the aide said, adding: “There are two things America will insist on. We will not have any men or women in the enforcement mechanism. We’re not paying for it. Europe is paying for it.”
Finland warns Xi of 'provocation' by N Korea in Ukraine war
Finnish President Alexander Stubb said he told China's president Xi Jinping that North Korean activities with Russia were an escalation and provocation in a message on behalf of NATO and the EU during talks in Beijing on Tuesday.
Stubb and Xi met as North Korea's foreign minister arrived in Russia, with Western military alliance NATO and South Korea warning that Pyongyang's troops could soon be entering the Ukraine war on Moscow's side.
“Right now we are very much in a situation whereby Russian aggression has violated international law. I look forward to discussing peaceful solutions on that path,” Stubb said in a brief speech during an official visit to China until the end of the month.
In July, Stubb called on Xi to help end the war in Ukraine, saying that Russia’s dependence on China meant that Xi Jinping could solve the issue with a single phone call.
Stubb said today that he felt the Chinese-North Korean relationship “is not very comfortable at the moment”, and that he had warned Xi supporting Russia would have negative implications for EU ties.
“The more China supports Russia, the more difficult the relationship with Europe, and especially the European Union, becomes,” Stubb said.
Putin begins strategic nuclear training exercise
President Vladimir Putin kicked off a new exercise of Russia’s nuclear forces today, marking the second such drill that Moscow has held in two weeks.
In a video released by the Kremlin, Putin said using nuclear weapons would be an “extremely exceptional measure” but they need to be kept ready for use.
“We will work out the actions of officials to control the use of nuclear weapons with practical launches of ballistic and cruise missiles,” Putin was shown saying in a video clip announcing the drill.
“We will continue to improve all their components. The resources for this are available. I stress that we are not going to get involved in a new arms race, but we will maintain nuclear forces at the level of necessary sufficiency,” he said.
The drill follows an October 18 exercise in the Tver region, northwest of Moscow, involving a unit equipped with Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of striking US cities.
Chechen leader vows revenge after drone attack
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.
Four killed in Kharkiv by Russian bombing
Four people have been killed and another six injured by Russian bombing overnight on Ukraine‘s two largest cities of Kharkiv and Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday.
Another two were killed and seven injured in Russian shelling on Kherson city in southern Ukraine in the morning, a local governor said.
Russian forces have been attacking Ukrainian regions almost every night with drones and the Ukrainian military reported that overnight they had shot down 26 out of 48 drones launched.
Four people were killed in Kharkiv in the early hours of Tuesday in Russia’s bombardment of the city’s Osnovianskyi district, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on his Telegram messaging channel.
In Kyiv, falling debris from a destroyed Russian drone injured six people and set a residential building on fire, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital said.
One of the people injured by debris in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district was taken to hospital, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on his Telegram channel. He said several cars were also on fire.
In the morning attacks on Kherson, governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on the Telegram messenger that the victims of the Russian shelling were a 62-year-old man and a 66-year-old woman.
Ukraine and South Korea to enhance cooperation to counter North Korea
Further details have been released about President Volodymyr Zelensky’s agreement with South Korea's president to step up contacts between their nations at all levels to develop countermeasures and a strategy to respond to North Korea's involvement in the war in Ukraine.
In a phone call with President Yoon Suk Yeol, Zelensky said the two leaders also agreed to strengthen exchanges of intelligence and expertise.
Zelensky said he shared data about the deployment of 3,000 North Korean troops to Russian training grounds near the combat zone, with their presence expected to increase to approximately 12,000.
"We agreed to strengthen intelligence and expertise exchange, intensify contacts at all levels, especially the highest, in order to develop an action strategy and countermeasures to address this escalation, and to engage our mutual partners in cooperation," he said.
Zelensky and South Korea leader have discussed North Korean role in Ukraine
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday he had talked to South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol and discussed the involvement of North Korean military forces in Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"The conclusion is clear - this war is becoming internationalized, extending beyond two countries," Zelensky said on X social network.
Zelensky said the two leaders agreed to strengthen intelligence, exchange expertise and intensify contacts at all levels.
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