Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin’s forces ready for ‘large missile attack’ as US vows North Korea troop response
US secretary of state Antony Blinken warns North Korean troops deployment ‘will get a firm response’
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Your support makes all the difference.Vladimir Putin’s forces are ready to launch a massive attack on Ukraine, the head of Kyiv’s national security council has warned, as the country braces for large-scale missile attacks on civilian infrastructure.
Blasts were heard over Kyiv on Wednesday as Ukraine accused Russia of launching its first missile attack on the capital since August and urged residents to take cover as air raid sirens blared in multiple regions.
But Ukraine security chief Andrii Kovalenko warned the the attacks on Wednesday – involving cruise and ballistic missiles – were less intense than those Moscow was equipped to carry out in the future, as it continues to stockpile cruise missiles. Russia’s plans are known and understood, and Ukraine will counter, he insisted.
It came as US secretary of state Antony Blinken travelled to Brussels, meeting Nato chief Mark Rutte and Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha.
Vowing that the Biden administration will bolster Ukraine ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House, Mr Blinken also warned that Russia’s deployment of North Korean troops “demands and will get a firm response”.
Senior Russian naval officer killed in car bombing claimed by Kyiv
A senior Russian naval officer was killed in a bomb attack claimed by Kyiv in occupied Crimea’s Sevastopol.
According to a Kyiv security source, the bomb attack was a Ukrainian hit on one of its highest-ranking targets to date.
A source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) told Reuters that the explosion had killed Valery Trankovsky, a Russian naval captain and the chief of staff of the 41st brigade of Russia’s missile ships in the Black Sea.
The operation was carried out by the SBU, which saw him as a “legitimate” target in line with the laws of war because of “war crimes” he committed, the source said.
The source said he had ordered missile attacks that hit civilian targets in Ukraine, including a deadly strike on the city of Vinnytsia in July 2022.
Russia’s state Investigative Committee, which handles probes into serious crimes, said in a statement that an improvised explosive device had detonated in an act of terrorism, killing a serviceman whom it did not identify.
Several pro-war Russian figures have been assassinated since the start of the war in operations blamed by Moscow on Ukraine, including journalist Darya Dugina, war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky and former submarine commander Stanislav Rzhitsky.
Ukraine repel Russian bid to pierce defences in northeast, General Staff says
Ukrainian forces repelled an attempt by Russian troops to pierce defences near the northeastern city of Kupiansk, Ukraine’s General Staff said.
The city of Kupiansk was seized by Russian troops in the early days of their February 2022 invasion and recaptured by Ukrainian troops in a lightning counter-offensive months later. Russian forces have returned in the area and caused an upsurge in combat activity.
The General Staff report said Russian forces attacked in four waves and deployed about 15 pieces of equipment, including tanks, armoured vehicles and a mine-clearing system.
“With skilful and decisive actions, our defenders stopped the enemy, destroyed all of its armoured vehicles and eliminated a significant portion of its personnel,” the report said last night.
Some of the Russian forces, it said, had, donned uniforms resembling those of the Ukrainian military, a practice it characterised as amounting to a war crime.
DeepState, a popular Ukrainian military blog, said two columns of Russian men and equipment had entered Kupiansk after dark. Russian servicemen scattered through the town, but Ukrainian forces struck armoured vehicles in the town and in surrounding forests and destroyed part of the group.
Senior Russian naval officer killed in car bombing claimed by Kyiv
A bomb planted under a car blew up and killed a senior Russian naval officer in occupied Crimea’s city of Sevastopol on Wednesday, in what a Kyiv security source said was a Ukrainian hit on one of its highest-ranking targets to date.
Russia’s state Investigative Committee, which handles probes into serious crimes, said in a statement that an improvised explosive device had detonated in an act of terrorism, killing a serviceman whom it did not identify.
A source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) told Reuters that the explosion had killed Valery Trankovsky, a Russian naval captain and the chief of staff of the 41st brigade of Russia’s missile ships in the Black Sea.
Trump and Biden discuss Ukraine in ‘cordial’ White House meeting
Ukraine was one of the topics discussed by US president-elect Donald Trump and president Joe Biden, longtime political rivals, in a seemingly cordial meeting at the White House designed to begin the smooth transfer of power.
The two leaders sat side by side before a roaring fire in the White House Oval Office, a peaceful scene after many months of bitter disagreements leading up to the election.
Mr Biden argued support for Ukraine was good for US national security because a strong and stable Europe would keep America from being dragged into war, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told journalists.
Mr Trump has pledged to end the Russia-Ukraine war quickly, without saying how he would do so.
“They discussed important national security and domestic policy issues facing the nation and the world,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. “It was indeed very cordial, very gracious, and substantive.”
The meeting lasted roughly two hours, she said.
Zelensky expresses gratitude to Ukrainian rescue officials
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed his gratitude to rescue officials in Ukraine responding to daily Russian attacks.
In a post on X, Mr Zelensky said: “No rescue service has ever faced challenges like those our rescuers, police, medics, and everyone helping them tackle every day – often under fire or under threat of renewed Russian attacks. Every day, there is a necessary and immediate response, no matter the challenges.
“I thank everyone who saves lives after Russian strikes, clears rubble, provides first aid, extinguishes fires, and eliminates the consequences to save people’s lives.”
US concerned by Russia-North Korea ties and technology exchanges
The United States is concerned by Russia’s growing relationship with North Korea and by what technology the two countries may be exchanging, the top US arms control official said on Wednesday.
Speaking to Reuters in Bucharest at a forum on preventing nuclear and radiological terrorism, Under Secretary of State Bonnie Jenkins said the US was working with Japan and South Korea to address those countries’ concerns about North Korea.
She echoed remarks by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken who said in Brussels on Wednesday that Moscow’s relationship with Pyongyang was a two-way street, and that there was deep concern about what Russia was or may be doing to strengthen “North Korea’s capacity”, including its nuclear capacity.
“We don’t have anything definitive ... in terms of nuclear technology going from Russia to the DPRK (North Korea), but obviously we have an overall concern about the developing relationship between the two countries,” Jenkins said in an interview in the Romanian capital.
“Not only because of what technology could be being transferred, but also just the growing relationship and the fact that the DPRK is assisting Russia, not only with their developing defense industrial base, but also obviously with the 10,000 troops or so that are in Russia right now.”
Comment: Europe is in immense danger if Trump hands any kind of victory to Putin in Ukraine
Examining the prospect of Donald Trump seeking to bring the war in Ukraine to a rapid conclusion, Keir Giles of the Chatham House think-tank writes for Independent Voices:
For Europe, an end to the fighting in Ukraine makes the danger from Russia much greater, not less. European and North American intelligence and defence chiefs are unanimous that Russia is preparing to mount an attack against a Nato state in the near future.
Where there is disagreement though is not over whether Russia will attack, but where and when. The unexpected speed with which Russia has been rebuilding its land forces has triggered a spate of warnings across the continent to prepare for conflict more urgently.
And as soon as Ukraine is no longer demolishing those forces on the front line, Russia will be able to rebuild and re-equip them much faster – including with manpower pressed into service from Ukraine’s occupied territories, and now reinforcements from North Korea.
The end of the current fighting in Ukraine will not bring “peace” without effective means of deterring Russia from starting another war.
Read his analysis in full with Independent Premium:
Europe is in immense danger if Trump hands any kind of victory to Putin on Ukraine
The president-elect has said he’ll end the bloody Ukrainian conflict ‘in one day’ when he returns to the White House. But, says Keir Giles, whatever action is taken could have profound consequences for Europe
Polish security services detain Belarusian suspected of attempted arson
Polish special services have detained a Belarusian citizen suspected of committing acts of sabotage by attempting to set fire to a building in Gdansk.
Poland believes its role as a hub for supplies to Ukraine has made it a key target for spies who are trying to gather information on support for Kyiv’s war effort and engage in acts of sabotage.
In January and May, Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW) arrested citizens of Poland, Ukraine and Belarus whom it accused of carrying out arson attacks on buildings in Gdansk, Gdynia and Marki, and preparing similar attacks in Wroclaw.
“This is another arrest in the investigation into the activities of an organised criminal group that, at the request of foreign special services, carried out acts of sabotage, in particular arson,” the agency said on Wednesday.
The prosecutor’s office has charged the detained Belarusian citizen with participation in an organised criminal group and committing acts of sabotage, diversion or terrorist crimes on behalf of a foreign intelligence agency. A court ordered his detention for three months.
Ukraine cannot trademark anti-Russian insult, EU court says
Ukraine’s border guard force cannot register a trademark in the European Union on its wartime insult “Russian warship, go f*** yourself” because it is a political slogan, the EU’s General Court has ruled.
The phrase comes from the early days of Russia’s invasion, when the Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva radioed Ukrainian guards stationed on the outpost of Snake Island and ordered them to surrender or die. The reply came back: “Russian warship, go f*** yourself!”
The phrase quickly became a national slogan, featured on billboards, T-shirts, office mugs and even a postage stamp.
But the EU court upheld a lower tribunal’s decision this week, saying: “The Court observed that a sign is incapable of fulfilling the essential function of a trade mark if the average consumer does not perceive, in its presence, the indication of the origin of the goods or services, but only a political message.”
Biden administration to ‘send every dollar at our disposal’ to Kyiv ahead of Trump return
Joe Biden’s administration will send “every dollar we have at our disposal” to Ukraine before Donald Trump returns to the White House, US secretary of state Antony Blinken has said.
Speaking during a visit to Brussels where he met with Nato chief Mark Rutte, Mr Blinken said: “President Biden has committed to making sure that every dollar we have at our disposal will be pushed out the door between now and January 20”, when Mr Trump is due to be sworn in.
Mr Blinken warned that Nato countries must focus their efforts on “ensuring that Ukraine has the money, munitions and mobilised forces to fight effectively in 2025, or to be able to negotiate a peace from a position of strength”.
The US will “adapt and adjust” with the latest equipment it is sending, Mr Blinken said.
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