Ukraine-Russia latest: North Korea vows to back Putin’s war as US claims thousands of troops prepare for battle
Comes as Russia unleashes overnight drone attack on Kyiv, say officials
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Your support makes all the difference.North Korea has vowed to back Russia until it achieves victory in its war against Ukraine.
“Our traditional, historically friendly relations, which have travelled the tested path of history, today ... are rising to a new level of relations of invincible military comradeship,” Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said on Friday at talks in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, as she praised Vladimir Putin’s “wise leadership” in the invasion.
It came as US secretary of state Antony Blinken warned North Korean troops fighting inside the Russian President’s “meat grinder” war would be a legitimate military target.
The top US diplomat claimed that the North Korean soldiers will enter the war in Ukraine in the “coming days” as he confirmed there are 10,000 already in Russia, including as many as 8,000 in the Kursk region.
Meanwhile, Russia unleashed an overnight drone attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv that lasted into late morning and wounded at least one person, city officials said on Saturday.
Debris from downed drones struck six city districts, wounding a police officer, damaging residential buildings and starting fires, according to city military administrator Serhiy Popko.
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Russia attacked Ukraine with more than 2,000 drones in October, Kyiv says
Russia launched more than 2,000 attack drones at civilian and military targets across Ukraine last month, bringing the total this year to nearly 7,000 , Kyiv’s military has said.
Moscow has carried out regular air strikes on Ukrainian towns and cities, with the capital Kyiv coming under attack 20 times in October alone, according to city officials.
Ukraine’s General Staff said in a statement it had intercepted 1,185 of the 2,023 drones launched last month and that another 738 were “locationally lost”.
“In total, since the beginning of 2024, the enemy has launched 6,987 attack UAVs on the territory of Ukraine. Enemy drones mostly targeted civilian and critical infrastructure,” it said.
Father pays tribute to ex-British soldier son killed fighting in Ukraine
A former British Army soldier who died fighting the Russians in Ukraine was a “brave soul”, his father has said.
Liam Love, a 24-year-old who grew up in Coventry, was killed by a mortar bomb in Lyman in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine in October, his family said. His parents live in Co Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, and a funeral service will he held there on Saturday.
Mr Love served with the Royal Anglian Regiment for four years, during which he helped train Ukrainian conscripts following the invasion by Russia in early 2022. His father, Michael, said that experience had a profound effect on his son and he left the British Army earlier this year to join the fight in Ukraine.
“The training was all too short because the men were needed back in Ukraine as quickly as possible,” Mr Love told BBC Northern Ireland. “Liam befriended and kept in touch with them when they went back to Ukraine, but a lot were killed.
“He gave me a sense that he wanted to be more involved but never did I think that involvement would one day lead him to actually crossing the border into Ukraine.
“He empathised with the Ukrainian people and their plight and I think he felt that he didn’t give enough to the Ukrainian recruits when he was part of the training package. So he wanted to go out and help them to free themselves from what the Russians were doing at the time.”
He added: “I want him to be remembered that he did believe in what he did and despite the discomforts of battle, warfare; his determination to see it through, I want that to be his lasting legacy. He wanted to be remembered by a simple quote, ‘What we do in life echoes in eternity’, and that will echo with me. He was just a brave soul.”
Global explosives shortage hindering Ukraine’s push to produce more mortar shells
A global explosives shortage is constraining Ukraine’s push to ramp up its vital production of mortar shells, Kyiv’s top arms official said.
Ukraine has increased its production of shells from zero prior to Russia’s invasion to millions per year currently, as it seeks to reduce its heavy reliance on Western military aid. Mortar shells, which are cheaper and work at shorter ranges than artillery, are a vital weapon against the infantry-led assaults Russia uses to advance in the east.
Herman Smetanin, a 32-year-old former employee at state-owned defence firm Ukroboroprom who was appointed Ukraine’s minister overseeing wartime arms production last month, told Reuters in his first interview that Kyiv had increased production across various types of artillery as well as mortar rounds.
But warning that “this is still not enough”, Mr Smetanin said Ukraine was being held back by global production bottlenecks and high demand that has created a shortage of explosives.
He said: “The only problem we have now are powders and explosives. However much explosive comes into Ukraine, that’s how many shells we will have.”
Does North Korea have missiles that could strike the US?
In recent years, North Korea has reported steady advancement in its efforts to obtain nuclear-tipped missiles.
Many foreign experts believe North Korea likely has missiles that can deliver nuclear strikes on all of South Korea, but it has yet to possess nuclear missiles that can strike the mainland US.
The hurdles it has yet to overcome, according to experts, include ensuring its warheads survive the heat and stress of atmospheric reentry, improving the altitude control and guidance systems for the missiles, and being able to use multiple warheads on a single missile to defeat missile defenses.
Full report: US says 10,000 North Korean soldiers now at Ukraine border
Nearly 10,000 North Korean troops have arrived in Russia near Ukraine’s border, sparking concern that they may soon join Moscow’s war effort.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken confirmed the deployment on Thursday, adding that these troops have been trained in artillery and drone operations and basic infantry tactics.
Mr Blinken claimed that about 8,000 of the Korean soldiers are positioned in Kursk, the border region where Russian forces have been fighting off a Ukrainian incursion since August.
This troop count is a sharp increase from previous estimates. US defence secretary Lloyd Austin just a day earlier indicated only a partial movement of Korean soldiers towards the Ukraine border.
Mr Blinken warned that the Korean soldiers would become “legitimate military targets” if they engaged in combat operations.
My colleague Namita Singh has more in this report:
US says 10,000 North Korean soldiers now at Ukraine border
Antony Blinken says troops trained in artillery and drone operations and infantry tactics
Russian claims control of three settlements in eastern Ukraine
Russian forces have captured three new settlements in eastern Ukraine, Russian news agencies have quoted the defence ministry as claiming.
They named the settlements as Leonidivka, Novoukrainka and Shakhtarske. It was not possible to immediately verify the claims, although Russia has previously claimed control over villages it is yet to seize.
North Korea will back Russia until victory in Ukraine war, top official claims
North Korea will back Russia until it achieves victory in the Ukraine war, foreign minister Choe Son Hui has said
“Our traditional, historically friendly relations, which have travelled the tested path of history, today ... are rising to a new level of relations of invincible military comradeship,” she told Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, praising the role played in this by Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin.
She said Pyongyang had no doubt that under Putin’s “wise leadership” the Russian army and people would “achieve a great victory in their sacred struggle to protect the sovereign rights and security interests of their state.”
“And we also assure that until the day of victory we will firmly stand alongside our Russian comrades,” she said.
Western officials have accused North Korea of sending 10,000 troops to Russia for deployment in the war, in a move they fear Pyongyang will use in a bid to persuade Russia to share technology to boost its nuclear scheme.
Russian foreign minister hails close military and intelligence service ties with North Korea
Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has hailed what he described as close ties between the militaries and security services of Russia and North Korea, saying such ties make it possible for both countries to solve their security challenges.
Speaking at the start of talks in Moscow with his North Korean counterpart Choe Son Hui, he thanked Pyongyang for what he called its “principled position” on Ukraine amid claims by the US that 10,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia, which Moscow has neither confirmed nor denied.
Kremlin says it has nothing more to say about allegations of North Korean troops in Ukraine
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has told reporters he has “nothing to add to what has already been said” about assertions of North Korea sending thousands of troops to Russia to help in its war against Ukraine.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that Pyongyang had 10,000 troops in Russia, including 8,000 in its western Kursk region that he said were expected to go into combat against Ukraine in the coming days.
Russia has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Korean soldiers on its territory.
Senior North Korean official accuses US and South Korea of plotting nuclear strike
North Korea’s foreign minister Choe Son Hui has reportedly accused the United States and South Korea of plotting a nuclear strike against her country.
She did not provide evidence while making this assertion in a Moscow meeting with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, but claimed that such plotting took place during regular consultations between Washington and Seoul, Reuters reported.
Claiming the situation on the Korean Peninsula could become “explosive” any moment, Ms Choe told Mr Lavrov that the North needed to strengthen its nuclear arsenal and perfect its readiness to deliver a retaliatory nuclear strike if necessary, while pledging commitment to helping Russia win its war in Ukraine.
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