Ukraine-Russia latest: North Korea soldiers in Russia targeted by Ukrainian fire for first time, Kyiv says
US says North Korea has deployed 10,000 troops in Russia, with more than half of them in the Kursk region
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Your support makes all the difference.North Korean troops have been hit by Ukraine’s army for the first time since they entered the war on Russia’s side, Kyiv has said.
Andriy Kovalenko, an official with Ukraine’s national security council, reported that the incident took place in Russia’s western Kursk region. Ukrainian forces have held parts of this area since their unexpected cross-border operation in August.
“The initial North Korean troops have already encountered fire in the Kursk region,” Kovalenko said, though he did not provide additional details.
His remarks are likely to heighten concerns that North Korea’s involvement could draw other nations into the conflict, which has already become Europe’s largest war since 1945.
Pyongyang has vowed to back Russia until it achieves victory over Ukraine. “Our traditional, historically friendly relations, which have traveled the tested path of history, today ... are rising to a new level of relations of invincible military comradeship,” the North’s foreign minister Choe Son Hui said during her trip to Moscow last week.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken confirmed there are 10,000 North Koreans already in Russia, including as many as 8,000 in the Kursk region.
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Putin hosts North Korean foreign minister on Russia's 'unity day'
Russian President Vladimir Putin met North Korea’s foreign minister in the Kremlin on Monday at a time of mounting concern in the West that North Korean soldiers are about to enter the Ukraine war on Moscow’s side.
Video of the meeting showed the pair shaking hands for a full minute as Putin greeted Choe Son Hui. Putin noted that they were meeting on Russia’s National Unity Day, a public holiday, and Choe conveyed “sincere, warm, comradely greetings” from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The United States says North Korea has sent some 10,000 troops to Russia, including 8,000 to the western Kursk region where Russia is still battling to expel Ukrainian troops who broke across the border in August.
Putin, who signed a treaty with Kim in June that includes a mutual defence clause, has neither confirmed nor denied the North Korean troop presence. He has said that Russia is free to implement the pact as it sees fit.
Germany's top diplomat in Kyiv as Ukraine girds for impact of US election on the war
Germany’s top diplomat arrived Monday in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on an unannounced visit, in what appeared to be a show of European support for Ukraine on the eve of a U.S. presidential election that could bring far-reaching changes in Washington’s policy toward Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbor.
Germany is Ukraine’s second biggest weapons supplier after the U.S., and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock vowed that Berlin’s backing would remain steadfast.
“Together with many partners around the world, Germany stands firmly by Ukraine’s side,” she said, German news agency dpa reported. “We will support the Ukrainians for as long as they need us so that they can continue on their path to a just peace.”
Germany's top diplomat in Kyiv as Ukraine girds for impact of US election on the war
Germany’s top diplomat has arrived in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on an unannounced visit
Russia downs four HIMARS, 42 Ukrainian drones, says defence ministry
Russia’s defence ministry said its armed forces had downed four US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 42 Ukrainian drones in the last 24 hours on Monday, Reuters has reported.
The ministry said four different troop groupings were improving their positions, including the southern group which it said was making advances deep into Ukrainian defences.
South Korea and EU condemn 'North Korean troops in Russia’
Top South Korean and European Union officials have condemned North Korea’s reported troop dispatch to aid Russia’s war against Ukraine.
In a meeting in Seoul on Monday, South Korean defense minister Kim Yong Hyun and the EU’s visiting foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, expressed “serious concerns” about North Korea’s reported troop dispatch and “strongly condemned” it, according to a statement from the South Korean defense ministry.
The two agreed to work together with the international community to try to obstruct Russian-North Korean security cooperation, the statement said.
In a background briefing with local media on Monday, South Korea’s military said North Korea has built anti-tank, trench-like structures at two sites near the Korean border. According to US, South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence assessments, North Korea was estimated to have moved about 10,000-12,000 troops to Russia.
Medics urged to remove red cross on vehicles at risk of becoming targets
Medics in Ukraine are being urged to remove any markings on their vehicles that may set them apart otherwise they’ll be shot at “within 15 minutes”, the Economist has reported.
Earlier this year, the World Health Organisation reported that ambulance workers and other personnel servicing health transport face a risk of injury and death three times higher than that of other healthcare service workers.
A secret underground hospital’s chief medical officer told the Economist: “They don’t even know what it means” when asked about Russia following the Geneva conventions, which forbid targeting medical units.
He said: “If you put a red cross on a car, you’ll be fired on within 15 minutes.”
Why Moldova’s president Maia Sandu winning second term in office important for Ukraine
Moldova’s pro-western President Maia Sandu has won a second term in office in what was a pivotal presidential runoff against a Russia-friendly opponent.
The race was overshadowed by claims of Russian interference, voter fraud and intimidation in the European Union candidate country.
Like Georgia and neighboring Ukraine, Moldova aspires to join the EU but is caught in a constant geopolitical tug between Moscow and the West.
In a victory statement early Monday, Sandu told voters they had "given a lesson in democracy, worthy of being written in history books" and also noted the significant role the diaspora played in her reelection.
In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Moldova applied to join the EU. It was granted candidate status in June of that year, and in summer 2024, Brussels agreed to start membership negotiations.
The sharp westward shift irked Moscow and significantly soured relations with Chisinau.
Putin meets North Korean foreign minister in Moscow
Russian president Vladimir Putin reportedly held a meeting in Russia’s capital with North Korean foreign minister Choe Son Hui, the state news agency TASS reported.
Another agency, Interfax, said the meeting in Moscow took place on Monday.
Choe travelled to Russia last week for her second trip in six weeks, at a time of mounting alarm in the West over military cooperation between the two countries.
UK becomes president of the UN Security Council
UK is now president of the UN Security Council
The UK has become the president of the UN’s Security Council.
It is a rotating position that the UK will hold until the end of November. It was held by Denmark in October and will be taken over by the United States in December.
The UK’s permanent ambassador to the UN, Barbara Woodward, spoke on the role of president.
“Putin will not stop at Ukraine. We can be sure that Iran and North Korea are exacting a heavy price from Russia for their support.
“Where there is death and chaos, President Putin’s hand is rarely far behind.”
Ukraine says it tries to repel drone attack on Kyiv
Ukraine's air defence units were trying to repel a Russian drone attack on Kyiv, the military administration said on Monday.
"Stay in shelters!" Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's military administration said on the Telegram messaging app.
Reuters witnesses heard explosions in Kyiv in what sounded like air defence units in operation.
Ukraine facing ‘one of the most powerful Russian offensives' since the start of the war
Ukraine’s army chief has warned that his forces are up against “one of the most intense Russian offensives” since the war began, as Russia announced the capture of additional settlements along the eastern frontline.
Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said the situation on the front line “remains difficult” and certain areas “require constant renewal of resources of Ukrainian units” in a statement on Telegram Saturday morning.
Kyiv’s forces, he said, are “holding back one of the most powerful Russian offensives since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.”
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