Ukraine-Russia latest: Moscow cargo ship with Syria ties sinks as North Korean troop casualties ‘exceed 3,000’
Zelensky warns of greater military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang, including sending more troops and military equipment
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Your support makes all the difference.A Russian cargo ship that Kyiv says was intended to collect weapons from military bases in Syria has sunk on route in the Mediterranean Sea.
Officials in Moscow said two crew members are missing after an engine room explosion sank the Ursa Major between Spain and Algeria. Fourteen other crew were rescued and taken to Spain.
The vessel left the Russian port city of St Petersburg on 11 December, according to ship tracking data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG). It was last seen sending a signal at 10.04pm GMT on Monday between Algeria and Spain.
Ukraine’s military intelligence claimed on Monday that the ship had been sent to Syria to remove weapons and military materiel after the fall of Moscow-backed Bashar Al-Assad.
It comes as the North Korean troops killed and injured while fighting alongside Russian forces have surpassed 3,000, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said, as he warned about greater military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang.
“There are risks of North Korea sending additional soldiers and military equipment to the Russian army, and we will have tangible responses to this,” Mr Zelensky said in a statement on Telegram yesterday.
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Kremlin foreign policy aide says several countries have already offered to host Putin-Trump talks
Kremlin foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov said on Monday that several countries had already offered to host talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President-elect Donald Trump, though he declined to say which.
Trump has said he wants to swiftly end the war in Ukraine, though he has yet to set out publicly how he plans to do so. Putin said on Thursday that he was ready to compromise over Ukraine in possible talks with Trump and had no conditions for starting talks with the Ukrainian authorities.
But Putin said any talks should take as their starting point a preliminary agreement reached between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in the early weeks of the war at talks in Istanbul, which was never implemented.
Many Ukrainian politicians regard that draft deal as akin to a capitulation which would have neutered Ukraine‘s military and political ambitions and say they do not believe Putin is ready to strike a deal that would be acceptable for Kyiv too.
North Korea suffers ‘1,100 casualties’ fighting for Russia
North Korea suffers 1,100 casualties fighting for Russia, South Korea says
South Korea says Pyongyang has expressed intention of providing Russia with suicide drones
Several countries ready to send peacekeeping forces to Ukraine, says Kyiv
Several countries are ready to send their forces to Ukraine in a peacekeeping capacity, Ukraine’s foreign ministry has said.
Only France was named publicly as one of those countries.
The comments come after US president-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to end the war in Ukraine in a day, said Europe would have to be responsible for such a peacekeeping force between the Russian and Ukrainian forces.
The one battle President Zelensky looks set to win
The one battle President Zelensky looks set to win
For all of Russia’s recent setbacks, it is increasingly unlikely Ukraine will be able to push back invading forces to the border positions when hostilities first broke out – but it may yet force Vladimir Putin into a negotiated peace that would ensure greater security for Europe
Ukraine strikes heart of Russia with attack 1,000km beyond frontline
Ukraine strikes in heart of Russia with drone attack 1,000km beyond frontline
Russian authorities said the attacks damaged residential buildings in the city of Kazan
Switzerland adopts more EU sanctions on Russia and Belarus
Switzerland adopted the latest EU sanctions package on Russia and Belarus, the government said on Monday. The move came one week after the European Union targeted Moscow’s vessels and Chinese entities found to have traded with the Russian military.
The Swiss government listed 54 persons and 30 companies and organisations, freezing their assets as of Dec. 24, and banned 52 ships from providing services.
“These are mainly tankers that are part of Russia’s shadow fleet and are circumventing the price cap on Russian crude oil and petroleum products or transporting military goods for Russia or stolen grain from Ukraine,” the Swiss statement said.
The sanctioned individuals will be barred from entering Switzerland.
In line with EU policy, Switzerland also adopted financial and travel sanctions against 26 individuals and two organisations from Belarus.
British army tests ‘game-changing’ weapon in the war against drones
British army tests ‘game-changing’ weapon in the war against drones
Weapons such as surface-to-air missiles can cost many times more than the drones they are trying to shoot down
Russian gas sales to Europe are 'complicated', Kremlin says after Putin-Fico talks
The situation with European countries that buy Russian gas is very complicated and requires increased attention, the Kremlin said on Monday after talks the previous day between President Vladimir Putin and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.
Fico said on Sunday that Putin had confirmed Russian willingness to continue to supply gas to Slovakia, even though the Slovak leader said this was “practically impossible” once a gas transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine expires at the end of the year.
It was not clear what potential solution the two leaders might have discussed.
Ukraine has declined to renew the gas transit deal. President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week this might be possible, but only on condition that Russia was not paid for the gas until after the war was over.
“You heard the statement from the Ukrainian side, and you know about the positions of those European countries that continue to buy Russian gas and that consider this necessary for the normal operation of their economies,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“Therefore, there is now a very complicated situation here that requires increased attention.”
Ukraine says Russian general deliberately targeted Reuters staff in August missile strike
Ukraine‘s security service has named a Russian general it suspects of ordering a missile strike on a hotel in eastern Ukraine in August and said he acted “with the motive of deliberately killing employees of” Reuters.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said in a statement on Friday that Colonel General Alexei Kim, a deputy chief of Russia’s General Staff, approved the strike that killed Reuters safety adviser Ryan Evans and wounded two of the agency’s journalists on Aug. 24.
In a statement posted on Telegram messenger the SBU said it was notifying Kim in absentia that he was an official suspect in its investigation into the strike on the Sapphire Hotel in Kramatorsk, a step in Ukrainian criminal proceedings that can later lead to charges.
In a separate, 15-page notice of suspicion, in which the SBU set out findings from its investigation, the agency said that the decision to fire the missile was made “with the motive of deliberately killing employees of the international news agency Reuters who were engaged in journalistic activities in Ukraine“.
The document, which was published on the website of the General Prosecutor’s Office on Friday, said that Kim had received intelligence that Reuters staff were staying in Kramatorsk. It added that Kim would have been “fully aware that the individuals were civilians and not participating in the armed conflict”.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in an emailed comment to Reuters that “the Russian military only strikes military infrastructure” in Ukraine.
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