Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky offers conditions to stop ‘hot phase of war’ amid North Korea talks
North Korea’s Kim Jong-un says Pyongyang ‘will invariably support’ Russia to ‘defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity’
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Your support makes all the difference.Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has suggested he would temporarily cede Ukrainian territory to Russia in exchange for joining Nato to end the “hot phase” of the war.
“If we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we need to take under the Nato umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control,” Mr Zelensky told Sky News.
“We need to do it fast. And then on the occupied territory of Ukraine, Ukraine can get them back in a diplomatic way.”
The statement comes as North Korea pledged its “invariably support” to Russia’s war in Ukraine amid military talks with Moscow. Pyongyang has reportedly sent thousands of its troops to Russia to join the fight against Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military claimed that Vladimir Putin’s forces suffered more than 2,000 casualties in a single day.
With both Kyiv and Moscow anticipating that Donald Trump could seek to broker a rapid peace deal upon returning to the White House in January, freezing the front lines, Ukraine’s military said on Friday there had been more than 200 combat clashes over the past 24 hours.
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Zelensky says Ukraine could temporarily cede territory to Russia
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has suggested he would temporarily cede Ukrainian territory to Russia in exchange for joining Nato.
Mr Zelensky said Nato membership would have to be offered to unoccupied parts of the country to end the “hot phase” of the war and appeared to accept eastern parts of the country would fall outside this deal.
It comes after reports claimed one of US president-elect Donald Trump’s plans to end the war might be for Kyiv to cede the land Moscow has taken in exchange for Ukraine joining the alliance.
Alexander Butler reports.
Zelensky says Ukraine could temporarily cede territory to Russia for Nato membership
Ukrainian president believes any ceded territory can eventually be reclaimed through diplomatic means
North Korea vows steadfast support for Russia
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un vowed his country will “invariably support” Russia’s war in Ukraine as he met Russia’s defence chief.
A Russian military delegation led by defence minister Andrei Belousov arrived in North Korea on Friday, amid growing international concern about the two countries’ expanding cooperation after North Korea sent thousands of troops to Russia last month.
Mr Kim said that North Korea “will invariably support the policy of the Russian Federation to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity from the imperialists’ moves for hegemony”, according to state media KCNA.
North Korea has supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, calling it a defensive response to what both Moscow and Pyongyang call Nato’s “reckless” eastward advance and US-led moves to stamp out Russia’s position as a powerful state.
Putin says Ukrainian infrastructure attack was revenge for Kyiv's strikes on Russia
President Vladimir Putin has said that a massive Russian overnight attack on Ukrainian infrastructure was a response to Kyiv’s attacks on Russian regions using longer-range Western missiles.
Russia had unleashed its second big attack on Ukraine‘s energy infrastructure this month on Thursday, Ukrainian officials said. This cut power to more than 1 million people in the west, south, and centre of the country.
Speaking in Astana, Kazakhstan, Putin told members of a security alliance made up of ex-Soviet states:
“Tonight we conducted a comprehensive strike using 90 missiles of similar classes and 100 drones. Seventeen targets were hit.
“These are military facilities, defence industry facilities and their support systems. Let me repeat once again: these strikes on our part also took place in response to the ongoing strikes (by Ukraine) on Russian territory with American ATACMS missiles. As I have already said many times, there will always be a response from our side.”
Ukraine urges global response to Putin threats to attack Kyiv government sites
Ukraine has urged the international community to react to Russian President Vladimir Putin's threats to strike government targets in Kyiv, accusing him of "blackmail" intended to test the incoming Trump administration.
Putin had said Russia could use its new Oreshnik hypersonic missile to attack "decision-making centres" in Kyiv in response to Ukraine's firing of Western missiles at Russian territory.
"We expect those countries that have urged everyone to avert the expansion of the war to react to the statements voiced by Putin today," Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said.
Tykhyi described Putin's rhetoric as "blackmail" aimed at discouraging Kyiv's partners and testing US President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to seek a swift end to the conflict without specifying how.
Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves among 15 cabinet ministers banned from entering Russia in new sanctions
Read the full report below:
Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves among 15 cabinet ministers banned from Russia
The Russian ministry announced a fresh wave of sanctions on the UK’s political and military establishment, accusing them of ‘anti-Russian activities’
UK-based spy ring passed secrets to Russia for nearly three years, court told
A “sophisticated” UK-based spy ring passed secrets to Russia for nearly three years, a court has heard.
Bulgarian nationals Katrin Ivanova, 33, Vanya Gaberova, 30, and Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, 39, allegedly carried out surveillance on individuals and places of interest to Russia.
The spying activities allegedly included locations in London, Vienna, Valencia, Montenegro and Stuttgart, jurors have heard.
Read the full report from our crime correspondent Amy-Clare Martin below:
Bulgarians paid ‘significant sums’ to work for UK-based Russian spy ring, trial hears
Katrin Ivanova, 33, Vanya Gaberova, 30, and Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, 39, deny conspiring with a Russian agent to pass information to the country
Russian visit to North Korea suggests their allegiance is set to intensify, analyst says
Russian defence minister Andrey Belousov’s visit to North Korea incidates that cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang is set to increase further, an analyst has said.
“The Russian defence minister doesn’t visit North Korea just to celebrate bilateral ties,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.
“This visit indicates Putin and Kim’s military cooperation in violation of international law is about to increase further.”
North Korea has already deployed some 10,000 troops to Russia, which is expected to in turn to potentially share information on military technology with Pyongyang.
Ukraine letter intends to show that Nato invite not off the table, senior official says
Ukraine has said it understood there was no consensus yet among its allies to invite it to join the Nato military alliance, but that it had sent a message to its allies to show that the matter of the invitation was not off the table.
According to the text of a letter seen by Reuters earlier, Ukraine’s foreign minister urged his Nato counterparts to issue an invitation during a meeting in Brussels next week to Kyiv to join the Western alliance.
“We have sent a message to the allies that invitation is not off of the table, regardless of different manipulations and speculations around that,” Olga Stefanishyna, deputy prime minister in charge of Nato affairs, told the news agency.
Zelensky says new military appointees ‘have proved their efficiency on the battlefield'
Volodymyr Zelensky has appointed a new land forces commander and deputy army chief, praising both as having “proved their efficiency on the battlefield”.
Former Kharkiv commander General Mykhailo Drapatyi was placed at the helm of Ukraine’s land forces, as reported in the previous post, while Colonel Oleh Apostol – commander of the 95th separate air-assault brigade – was made deputy to Ukraine’s military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi.
The Ukrainian president praised both Mr Drapatyi and Mr Apostol, saying “they had proved their efficiency on the battlefield”.
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