Ukraine-Russia live: Thousands of North Koreans in Putin’s ‘meat grinder’ war legitimate target, says Blinken
Around 8,000 North Korean troops expected to enter battlefield in coming days, says US
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Your support makes all the difference.North Korea’s soldiers fighting on behalf of Russia inside Vladimir Putin’s “meat grinder” war will be a legitimate military target, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said.
The top US diplomat said that the North Korean soldiers will enter the war in Ukraine in the “coming days” as he confirmed there are 10,000 North Korean troops in Russia, including as many as 8,000 in the Kursk region.
The US and South Korea have ramped up their pitch calling on North Korea to withdraw their troops already inside Ukraine and fighting alongside Russia.
“Should DPRK’s troops enter Ukraine in support of Russia, they will surely return in body bags. So I would advise Chairman Kim to think twice about engaging in such reckless and dangerous behaviour,” said Robert Wood, US envoy to the UN.
On the war front, at least three people, including a 12-year-old boy and a teenager, were killed in a Russian-guided bomb strike on Kharkiv. A child aged 12 was among the dead in the Wednesday evening strike, and thirty-six people were injured.
Russia boosts its military budget
The Russian government is seeking to reallocate $72 billion in its three-year budget draft, with a significant portion of the funds directed towards the military, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.
The draft allocates 13.5 trillion roubles to the military in 2025, accounting for a third of total expenditure or 6.3% of GDP the highest level since the Cold War.
For the first time, the share of spending on defence will be double that of social spending.
“A significant part of the amendments is aimed at ensuring the defence and security of the country, including the conduct of the special military operation,” Siluanov said during a cabinet meeting, referring to Russia’s military action in Ukraine.
US says 8,000 North Korean troops stationed in Kursk
The United States has received information that indicates that “right now” there are 8,000 North Korean troops in Russia’s Kursk region, deputy US Ambassador to the United Nations Robert Wood told the Security Council on Thursday.
“I have a very respectful question for my Russian colleague: does Russia still maintain that there are no DPRK troops in Russia?” Wood said, referring to North Korea’s formal name - the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The Russian representative in the 15-member Security Council did not respond.
Zelensky insists Russia wants North Korean civilians to produce weapons for his forces
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia was in the process of agreeing with North Korea to deploy a “large number of civilians” to work at Russian weapons production plants.
Zelenskiy said Moscow confirmed North Korean troops involvement in the war to Kyiv’s Western allies via intelligence channels and said that Russia was testing Western reaction and would involve more troops if that was weak.
Zelensky asks West for more long range weapons as two teenagers among dead in Russian glide bomb attack
Russian forces struck a residential building in Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv on Thursday, killing three, including two teenage boys, and injuring scores of others
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said at least 35 people were injured in the attack and others could still be trapped under the rubble.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly urged the United States to allow Ukraine to use long-range American missiles to strike air bases deeper in Russia that are used by warplanes carrying glide bombs. Washington so far has only allowed some strikes close to the border.
“Partners see what is happening every day,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
“And under these conditions, each of their delayed decisions means at least dozens, if not hundreds of such Russian bombs against Ukraine. Their decisions are the lives of our people. Therefore, we must together stop Russia and do it with all possible force.”
North Korean soldiers ‘should not be underestimated'
Thousands of North Korean troops could already be in Donetsk to join up with Russian forces, according to the Center for Countering Disinformation.
Andriy Kovalenko said the engineer soldiers have not yet participated in the war against Ukraine - but they will be used soon.
“These North Korean soldiers will be in Russian uniforms, with Russian documents, mixed with Kalmyks and Buryats, and try to prove that they are DPRK military.
“The Russians are counting on this,” Kovalenko said.
“At least we are aware of such plans of the enemy to do so, first in the Donetsk sector,” he said.
“10-12,000 DPRK troops in one direction will help withdraw Russians from that direction and throw them to the east, in particular to Kharkiv region. Therefore, the threat from the DPRK military should not be underestimated”, he added.
Russian Hurricane rocket launcher fires at Ukrainian position
In this photo taken distributed by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Wednesday a Russian self-propelled multiple rocket launcher fires toward at Ukrainian position at an undisclosed location.
It came as Russians struck a nine-story residential building in the Saltovsky district of Kharkiv with a guided aerial bomb on Wednesday night.
The death toll has risen to three including a 15-year-old boy, local authorities said.
Witnesses testify to the abuse Ukrainian civilians suffer in Russian detention
Ambassador Neil Holland delivered a speech to the UN outlining the fate of two Ukrainians being held by Russia.
He shared harrowing details from witness testimony at an event in London and urged Russia to release all Ukrainian citizens it has arbitrarily detained.
He recounted the story of Hryhorii Holovko detained by Russian forces in Kherson in October 2022.
He said: “Russian forces tortured and intimidated him, including beatings and electric shocks and by carving Russian symbols into his body. Russian guards made threats against his wife and child and forced him to sing the Russian national anthem.”
Hryhorii was released in May 2023, having been forced to sign papers to align with the Russian state.
He spoke of the family of 26-year-old Iryna Navalnaya who are worried she will die whilst being unlawfully detained.
He added: “Two months passed before Iryna’s family discovered she was being held in a prison in Donetsk. Women who have been released from this prison have shared accounts of the beatings and other barbaric treatment Iryna has experienced during interrogations, leaving her covered in bruises.”
Ambassodor Holland said the “UK stands in solidarity with them and Ukraine” and called on Russia to release the prisoners.
“We call on Russia to fully cooperate with international mechanisms investigating these abuses, grant immediate access to humanitarian organisations to all facilities where Ukrainian civilians are being held, and uphold its obligations to protect civilians and respect human rights.”
Who are the three North Korean generals sent to fight with Russia?
The Ukrainian government has named three North Korean generals it says are accompanying the thousands of Korean People’s Army troops deployed to Russia in aid of Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Ukraine named Colonel General Kim Yong Bok, a senior general with command of special forces troops, including the XI Corps, also known as the Storm Corps, which the South Korean intelligence service said has been dispatched to Russia.
Michael Madden, a North Korea leadership expert with the U.S.-based Stimson Center, said Kim’s role appears to be larger, running the KPA Light Infantry Training Guidance Bureau that includes the XI Corps as well as light infantry units deployed to KPA corps units and seconded to special missions for the Reconnaissance General Bureau, North Korea’s main spy agency.
“This is a large and almost unprecedented deployment for the KPA,” said Madden, who believes the general is in Russia as a representative of Kim Jong Un.
“As such, there are a number of administrative and liaison tasks so Kim Jong Un has sent in Kim Yong Bok as a proxy decision-maker until the KPA unit presence is fully stood up.”
Kim Yong Bok may eventually defer command to a subordinate KPA officer of a senior colonel or major general rank, Madden added.
Other top officers identified by Ukraine include Colonel General Ri Chang Ho, Deputy Chief of the General Staff and head of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, and Major General Sin Kum Cheol, head of the Main Operational Directorate.
As head of North Korea’s main intelligence service since about 2022, Ri has been sanctioned by South Korea, which alleged that he oversaw major cyber hacking efforts to steal technology and foreign currency.
Like Kim Yong Bok, Ri also accompanied leader Kim Jong Un to an unusually large number of events this year, including the inspection of an east coast navy base.
Madden said Sin’s career was unclear, but given his one-star rank, he was likely to assume command of the North Korean troops in Russia once Kim Yong Bok and Ri Chang Ho departed.
Ukraine starts paying out anti-corruption whistleblowers
When he was asked to approach Ukrainian investigators with a $5 million bribe on behalf of a former top official in 2020, businessman Yevhen Shevchenko would have been entitled to a cut as the middleman.
He finally received his money - but from the Ukrainian government, in exchange for reporting the kickback to anti-corruption police and setting up a sting operation.
Shevchenko is one of Ukraine’s first two whistleblowers to receive a state payout for their role in helping bring a crooked official to justice, part of a corruption crackdown that has taken on greater importance during the war with Russia.
Shevchenko, who had previously worked with Ukraine’s anti-corruption police as an informant, received the equivalent of around $320,000.
“There is a very large number of people who can help uncover crimes but don’t because they’re afraid, or for some other reasons,” he said.
More than 4,000 reports have been submitted since last year, though so far only a small fraction - 47 - were found to have involved concrete criminal or administrative violations.
Lavrov to meet China envoy over Ukraine
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will hold talks with Li Hui, China’s special envoy for Eurasian affairs and point person for Ukraine, later on Thursday on the sidelines of a security conference in Minsk, the state RIA news agency reported.
The meeting will take place as Russia’s war in Ukraine appears to have taken a dangerous new turn, with NATO and South Korea expressing alarm that North Korean troops could soon be joining Moscow’s side.
On Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi reaffirmed Beijing’s strong ties with Moscow at a meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko
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