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
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
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.
Why are North Koreans troops in Ukraine? Everything we know about Kim Jong-un’s soldiers joining Putin’s war
‘Growing alliance of aggression’ as North Korea sends troops to help Russia
North Korea satellite images show mystery trenches dug at border
Former North Korean soldiers on why troops will volunteer to fight in Ukraine
Moldova’s pro-EU president Maia Sandu wins close run-off election amid Russian meddling claims
Russia fines Google $2.5 decillion (that’s 2.5 trillion trillion trillion dollars)
US conducts long-range bomber exercise with South Korea and Japan
The United States flew a long-range bomber in a trilateral drill with South Korea and Japan on Sunday in response to North Korea’s recent test-firing of a new intercontinental ballistic missile designed to strike the US mainland, South Korea’s military said.
North Korea on Thursday tested the newly developed Hwasong-19 ICBM, which flew higher and stayed in the air longer than any other missile it has fired. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called it “an appropriate military action” to cope with external security threats posed by its rivals.
It comes as North Korean troops fight on the Ukrainian front line.
US conducts long-range bomber exercise with South Korea and Japan
South Korea says the US has flown a long-range bomber in a trilateral drill with South Korea and Japan in response to North Korea’s recent test-firing of a new intercontinental ballistic missile designed to strike the US mainland
Zelensky urges allies to take steps before North Korean troops reach the front
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky urged its allies to stop “watching” and take steps before North Korean troops deployed in Russia reach the battlefield.
Mr Zelensky raised the prospect of a preemptive Ukrainian strike on camps where the North Korean troops are being trained, and said Kyiv knows their location. But he said Ukraine can’t do it without permission from allies to use Western-made long-range weapons to hit targets deep inside Russia.
“But instead … America is watching, Britain is watching, Germany is watching. Everyone is just waiting for the North Korean military to start attacking Ukrainians as well,” Mr Zelensky said.
Ukraine, Germany discuss need for 'decisive response' to N. Korean involvement in war
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said he had discussed the “need for decisive action” in response to North Korean involvement in the war in Ukraine with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock.
“We urge Europe to realize that the DPRK troops are now carrying an aggressive war in Europe against a sovereign European state,” he told a briefing after meeting with Baerbock in Kyiv.
The United States says North Korea has sent thousands of troops to Russia and is poised to join the war in Ukraine on Moscow’s side. Russia has neither confirmed nor denied their presence.
Army chief says Ukraine facing ‘one of the most powerful’ Russian offensives
Ukraine is currently facing “one of the most powerful Russian offensives” since the beginning of the war in February 2022, its army chief has warned.
Russia has been steadily making gains in the Donbas region and capturing villages amid reports that North Korea has deployed about 10,000 troops to join Vladimir Putin’s war.
Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, said the situation on the front line “remains difficult” and certain areas “require constant renewal of resources of Ukrainian units”.
“The Armed Forces of Ukraine are holding back one of the most powerful Russian offensives from launching a full-scale invasion,” the top commander said over the weekend.
The war is entering what Russian analysts say is its most dangerous phase as Moscow’s forces advance, North Korea sends troops to Russia and the West ponders how the conflict will end.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has been traveling the world lobbying Nato countries to allow Kyiv the use of the long-range missiles they have provided to strike targets deep inside Russia.
In pics: Russia bombs Ukraine’s capital and Kharkiv
Russia sentences former US consulate worker to nearly 5 years in prison
A court in Russia's far-eastern city of Vladivostok on Friday convicted a former U.S. Consulate worker charged with cooperating with a foreign state and sentenced him to four years and 10 months in prison.
Robert Shonov, a Russian citizen and former employee of the U.S. Consulate in Vladivostok, was arrested in May 2023. Russia's top domestic security agency, the FSB, accused him of “gathering information about the special military operation" in Ukraine, a partial call-up in Russian regions and its influence on "protest activities of the population in the runup to the 2024 presidential election.”
The U.S. State Department last year condemned the arrest and said the allegations against Shonov “are wholly without merit.”
US is sending $425 million in military assistance to Ukraine
The Biden administration announced Friday it was sending an additional $425 million in military assistance to Ukraine as Kyiv prepares to face Russian forces augmented by more than 10,000 North Korean troops.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had said more aid was coming, and soon, during his visit to Kyiv last week. This aid package includes weapons that will be pulled from existing U.S. stockpiles, including air defense interceptors for National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and 155 mm artillery, and armored vehicles and anti-tank weapons.
US is sending $425 million in military assistance to Ukraine
The Biden administration is sending an additional $425 million in military assistance to Ukraine as Kyiv prepares to face Russian forces augmented by more than 10,000 North Koreans troops
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.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments