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.
Full report: Russia suffers ‘record 2,000 casualties in day’ as Ukraine military chief vows to reinforce eastern front
Russia has suffered more than 2,000 casualties in a single day, Ukraine’s military has claimed, in what would mark the heaviest toll of losses inflicted on Vladimir Putin’s forces at any point in the war so far.
Read the full report on today’s developments in Ukraine here:
Russia suffers record 2,000 casualties in day, Ukraine claims
Intense clashes reported along frontline in Ukraine as Russia ramps up efforts to seize territory ahead of Donald Trump’s return to White House
A Ukrainian video game set in Chernobyl is the target of a Russian misinformation operation
Read the full report below:
Ukrainian video game set in Chernobyl targeted with Russian misinformation operation
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 game has become entangled in politics of Russian invasion of Ukraine
Polish company denies that it broke the law in sending Swiss-made ammunition to Ukraine
A Polish company has strongly denied any laws were broken when it sent Swiss-made ammunition to Ukraine.
Switzerland’s government said last week it was barring exports to Polish military hardware supplier UMO after concluding that some 645,000 rounds of Swiss-made small-calibre ammunition ended up in Ukraine.
The issue is sensitive because Swiss laws on neutrality and the export of war material ban the export or re-export of Swiss-owned or Swiss-made military hardware to countries in conflict.
Poland, in contrast, is one of neighbouring Ukraine‘s staunchest allies and has sought to help Kyiv defend itself against Russia’s invasion with arms supplies.
UMO, which specializes in hardware for the military and police, said it purchased ammunition in 2023 from a Swiss ammunition provider, SwissP Defence, and later exported the ammunition to Ukraine “in accordance with the Polish law.”
It argued that it did not break Swiss law either, saying that “the Swiss government handed over control of the goods to Polish law.”
Russian court sentences defence lawyer to seven years in prison over Ukraine war comments
The sentencing of Kremlin critic Alexei Gorinov comes a day after a Russian court sentenced a defence lawyer who has represented critics of Moscow’s war in Ukraine to seven years in prison.
Prosecutors had sought a 12-year sentence for Dmitry Talantov, 63, who pleaded not guilty, after he wrote Facebook posts which condemned the actions of Russian soldiers in Ukraine. He was prosecuted under two censorship laws, spreading false information about the Russian army and “inciting hatred”, the court said.
The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Russia has called for his acquittal.
“Talantov must be released immediately and exonerated of all criminal responsibility, as acts such as expressing a non-violent opinion or peaceful dissent against the war are protected by international human rights law,” Mariana Katzarova said.
Putin’s secret daughter ‘is part-time DJ living in Paris under pseudonym’
Vladimir Putin’s youngest daughter is an occasional DJ who has lived in Paris under a pseudonym, according to reports.
While the Russian president officially has two daughters with his ex-wife, who has remarried as Lyudmila Ocheretnaya after she and Putin were divorced in 2014, he is also alleged to have had a daughter with a woman named Svetlana Krivonogikh.
Her daughter Elizaveta has now been reported in Ukrainian media to haved lived in Paris under the name Elizaveta Olegovna Rudnova, and to have studied at the ICART international school of art management.
You can read more details here:
Putin’s secret daughter ‘part-time DJ living in Paris under pseudonym’
Elizaveta Krivonogikh is reported to have studied at an art management school in the French capital
Nato invitation to Ukraine would be ‘the adequate response’ to Russian escalation, Kyiv says
A decision by Nato to invite Ukraine to join the military alliance would be “the adequate response” to Russia’s “constant escalation of the war it has unleashed”, Kyiv’s chief diplomat has said in a letter seen by Reuters.
Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha has urged his Nato counterparts to issue an invitation during a meeting in Brussels next week to Kyiv to join the alliance, according to the letter.
In line with president Volodymyr Zelensky’s “victory plan”, Ukraine says it accepts that it cannot join Nato until the war is over but extending an invitation now would show Vladimir Putin that one of his main goals – preventing Kyiv from becoming a Nato member – could not be achieved.
Nato has declared that Ukraine is on an “irreversible” path to membership. But it has not issued a formal invitation or set out a timeline, and diplomats say there is no consensus among alliance members to invite Ukraine at this stage – a decision which would require the consent of all 32 member states.
But Mr Sybiha wrote: “We believe that the invitation should be extended at this stage,” he wrote.
“It will become the Allies’ adequate response to Russia’s constant escalation of the war it has unleashed, the latest demonstration of which is the involvement of tens of thousands of North Korean troops and the use of Ukraine as a testing ground for new weapons,” Mr Sybiha added.
Ukraine urges Nato to issue membership invite next week, letter shows
Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha has urged his Nato counterparts to issue an invitation to Kyiv to join the Western military alliance at a meeting in Brussels next week, according to the text of a letter seen by Reuters.
“I urge you to endorse the decision to invite Ukraine to join the Alliance as one of the outcomes of the Nato Foreign Ministerial Meeting on 3-4 December 2024,” Mr Sybiha wrote.
Iran nuclear proliferation ‘critical threat’ in coming months, French spy chief says
The risk of Iranian nuclear proliferation is a serious threat in coming months, and Britain and France are working out strategies to prepare for such an event, the head of France’s foreign intelligence service has warned – as Iranian and European leaders meet to discuss Tehran’s ties with Moscow.
“Our services are working side by side to face what is undoubtedly one of the threats, if not to say the most critical threat, in the coming months – the possible atomic proliferation in Iran,” Nicolas Lerner, head of the DGSE, said at the British embassy in Paris, alongside MI6 chief Richard Moore.
His rare public comments come as Iran and European powers meet in Geneva to discuss Iran’s nuclear programme, the situation in the Middle East, and Tehran’s ties with Russia amid the war in Ukraine.
“The intelligence will be crucial to enable our authorities to make the right decisions and define the right strategies,” he said.
Sir Richard echoed those comments, saying: “The regime’s nuclear ambitions continue to threaten all of us, especially friends of France and the UK in the Gulf region.”
German foreign minister to visit China next week to discuss Ukraine war
German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock will travel to China next week and discuss issues including the war in Ukraine with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, Berlin has said.
Further political talks are also planned, a foreign ministry spokesperson said, adding that Ms Baerbock will also meet with German business representatives in the country.
Russia using thermal and radar decoys to trick Ukrainian air defences
Ukraine’s air force has warned that Russia was using thermal and radar decoys to trick Ukrainian air defences, and putting electronic warfare devices on its missiles.
"All this significantly complicates the operation of Soviet-made anti-aircraft missile systems. Western systems work much more effectively in such conditions, but Ukraine does not have enough to reliably cover hundreds of critical infrastructure facilities," the air force said.
It said foggy weather conditions also made it harder for machine gunners to spot drones, as Russia launched a large-scale attack this week on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
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