Category Archives: Ukraine

Russia strikes Kyiv in huge drone attack hours after Trump win

Posted on by

Attack on Ukrainian capital lasts eight hours with five districts hit and high-rise building set on fire

Russia has carried out a massive drone attack on Kyiv, and killed four people in a strike on a hospital in Zaporizhzhia, hours after Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election.

Five aerial bombs destroyed an apartment block in the southern Ukrainian city and damaged a cancer hospital. Rescuers clambered over debris to search for survivors. Eighteen people were hurt, including three children, two of them babies, officials said.

Continue reading...

US diplomats brace as Trump plans foreign policy shake-up in wider purge of government

Posted on by

Analysts say it is hard to separate the president-elect’s bluster from his actual plans but it’s clear his priority is to bin many of Joe Biden’s policies

The US foreign policy establishment is set for one of the biggest shake-ups in years as Donald Trump has vowed to both revamp US policy abroad and to root out the so-called “deep state” by firing thousands of government workers – including those among the ranks of America’s diplomatic corps.

Trump’s electoral victory is also likely to push the Biden administration to speed up efforts to support Ukraine before Trump can cut off military aid, hamper the already-modest efforts to restrain Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza and Lebanon and lead to a fresh effort to slash and burn through major parts of US bureaucracy including the state department.

Continue reading...

Orbán, Zelenskyy, Macron and European leaders respond to Trump’s win

Posted on by

Public congratulations but private foreboding as heads of state, ministers and diplomats express hopes for cooperation and peace

Western leaders raced to respond to the return of Donald Trump to the White House with a powerful mandate to put his policy of “America first” into action once again. But many of the public congratulations could do little to disguise the private foreboding of what the next four years will augur for European security, populism and the world economy.

Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister and the European leader closest to Trump, was one of the first to hail his ally’s victory. He posted on social media: “The biggest comeback in US political history! Congratulations to President @realDonaldTrump on his enormous win. A much-needed victory for the world!”

Continue reading...

North Korea’s involvement in Ukraine draws China into a delicate balancing act

Posted on by

The entry of North Korean troops risks a dangerous escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It also puts Beijing in a tight spot

In October 1950, barely a year after the Chinese civil war ended, Mao Zedong sent the first Chinese soldiers to fight in the Korean war. Between 180,000 and 400,000 of Chairman Mao’s troops would die in that conflict, including his own son. But it was important to defend North Korea in that battle, Mao reportedly said, because “without the lips, the teeth are cold”.

That Chinese idiom has been used to described China and North Korea’s close relationship for more than seven decades. China sees North Korea as a strategic security buffer in the region, while North Korea relies on its superpower neighbour for economic, political and military support. But that relationship is now under strain thanks to another war which is drawing Communist-rooted countries into a common battle.

Continue reading...

Inexperienced, poorly trained and underfed: the North Korean troops heading to Ukraine

Posted on by

Kim Jong-un says his army is the ‘strongest in the world’ but they are vulnerable to illness and none have seen combat before

Depending on whom you ask, they are the boost that Russian forces need to make a significant breakthrough in Ukraine, or they are simple cannon fodder, destined for repatriation in body bags.

After weeks of speculation, Nato and the Pentagon have confirmed that about 10,000 North Korean troops are in Russia, with most massing near Ukraine’s border in Kursk, where the Kremlin’s forces have struggled to repel a Ukrainian incursion.

Continue reading...

North Korea tells UN it is speeding up nuclear weapons programme

Posted on by

Pyongyang’s envoy to the United Nations says buildup is to counter threat from ‘hostile nuclear weapons states’

North Korea’s UN envoy has said Pyongyang will accelerate a buildup of its nuclear weapons programme just days after it test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time this year at a moment of rising tensions with the west.

Kim Song, North Korea’s ambassador to the UN, said during a security council meeting on Monday that Pyongyang would accelerate the programme to “counter any threat presented by hostile nuclear weapons states”.

Continue reading...

Volodymyr Zelenskyy urges allies to stop just ‘watching’ amid North Korea threat

Posted on by

Ukrainian president calls on countries to step in before troops sent to Russia by Pyongyang reach battlefield

Ukraine’s president urged allies to stop “watching” and take steps before North Korean troops deployed in Russia reach the battlefield, while the army chief said his troops were facing “one of the most powerful offensives” by Moscow since the full-scale war began.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy raised the prospect of a pre-emptive 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.

Continue reading...

Man jailed for claiming he had fought for Wagner group in Ukraine

Posted on by

Piotr Kucharski wore insignia for proscribed terror group on combat clothing at Suffolk Viking re-enactment

A builder has been jailed for claiming at a Viking re-enactment that he had fought for the Wagner group in Ukraine.

Piotr Kucharski, 49, wore combat clothing bearing badges with insignia for the proscribed terror organisation to an event in Stonham Aspal, in Suffolk.

Continue reading...

Russia sends ex-US consulate employee to prison for ‘secret collaboration with foreign state’

Posted on by

Robert Shonov worked for 25 years for consulate and was arrested on suspicion of passing secret information about war in Ukraine to US

A Russian former employee of the US consulate in Russia’s far eastern city of Vladivostok has been sentenced to four years and ten months in prison for “secret collaboration with a foreign state”.

Robert Shonov worked for more than 25 years for the US consulate until 2021, when Moscow imposed restrictions on local staff working for foreign missions.

Continue reading...

About 8,000 North Korean soldiers at Ukraine border, says US

Posted on by

Antony Blinken warns that Russia is preparing to deploy the troops into combat ‘in the coming days’

About 8,000 North Korean soldiers are stationed in Russia on the border with Ukraine, the US secretary of state has said, warning that Moscow is preparing to deploy those troops into combat “in the coming days”.

Antony Blinken said the US believed that North Korea had sent 10,000 troops to Russia in total, deploying them first to training bases in the far east before sending the vast majority to the Kursk region on the border with Ukraine.

Continue reading...

North Korean troops in Russian uniforms heading to Kursk, says US

Posted on by

Lloyd Austin says deployment near Ukraine border is a dangerous and destabilising development

North Korean troops wearing Russian uniforms and carrying Russian equipment are moving to the Russian region of Kursk, near Ukraine, according to the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, who described the deployment as a dangerous and destabilising development.

Austin was speaking at a press conference at the Pentagon with the South Korean defence minister, Kim Yong-hyun, as concerns grow about Pyongyang’s deployment of as many as 11,000 troops to Russia. The US and South Korea said some of the North Korean troops are heading to Kursk, on the border with Ukraine, where the Kremlin’s forces have struggled to push back a Ukrainian incursion.

Continue reading...

Russian police charge woman in Crimea over daughter’s pro-Ukraine video

Posted on by

Clip of Russian and Ukrainian flags with angry-face and heart emojis is alleged to have ‘discredited’ army

Police in Russian-annexed Crimea have charged a woman with child neglect after her 10-year-old daughter allegedly posted a video online that “discredited” the Russian army, authorities said on Wednesday.

The video, shared on Russian Telegram channels, showed a girl choosing between Russian and Ukrainian flags, with an angry-face emoji next to the Russian flag and a heart emoji next to the Ukrainian one.

Continue reading...

‘Carved on bodies and souls’: survivor tells of Russia’s use of male sexual torture in Ukraine

Posted on by

Oleksii Sivak has set up a support group for others who have suffered widespread but unspoken abuse

Russian troops tortured Oleksii Sivak for weeks, applying electric shocks to his genitals in a freezing basement in his home city of Kherson in punishment for resisting their rule.

When Ukrainian troops freed the city in the autumn of 2022, Sivak was presented with a long list of medical specialists who could help his recovery and asked to tick the ones he needed.

Continue reading...

If Trump wins the election, Nato can expect more turbulence ahead

Posted on by

Past threats former president – and present Russian ones – have spurred Europe to invest in self-defence, but as conflicts rise the alliance still looks vital

  • Don’t miss important US election coverage. Get our free app and sign up for election alerts

Politeness and convention dictate that European leaders try to sound noncommittal when asked whether a Donald Trump presidency would hurt Nato. But despite the rhetoric about “Trump-proofing”, Nato cohesion will be at risk from a hostile or isolationist Republican president, who has previously threatened to leave the alliance if European defence spending did not increase.

“The truth is that the US is Nato and Nato is the US; the dependence on America is essentially as big as ever,” said Jamie Shea, a former Nato official who teaches at the University of Exeter. “Take the new Nato command centre to coordinate assistance for Ukraine in Wiesbaden, Germany. It is inside a US army barracks, relying on US logistics and software.”

Continue reading...

Russia to deploy 10,000 North Korean troops against Ukraine within ‘weeks’, Pentagon says

Posted on by

Addition of North Korean soldiers will stoke regional tensions and further stretch Ukraine’s weary army in the almost three-year war

North Korea has sent about 10,000 troops to Russia to train and fight in the Ukraine war within “the next several weeks,” the Pentagon has said, in a move that western leaders say will intensify the almost three-year war and jolt relations in the region.

Some of the North Korean soldiers have already moved closer to Ukraine, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said on Monday, and were believed to be heading for the Kursk border region, where Russia has been struggling to push back a Ukrainian incursion.

Continue reading...

G7 vows to clamp down on Russia’s oil sanctions evasion

Posted on by

Group commits to unspecified measures to enforce price cap on Russian exports in response to Ukraine war

Finance ministers of the G7 nations vowed on Saturday to step up efforts to prevent Russia from evading sanctions imposed after its invasion of Ukraine.

“We remain committed to taking further initiatives in response to oil price cap violations,” the group said in a statement after a meeting in Washington. Those further steps were not spelled out in detail.

Continue reading...

Ministers urged to cut ties with P&O Ferries owner over links to Russia

Posted on by

The government is facing calls to cease trading with DP World because of its partnership with Putin’s northern sea route

Ministers are facing calls to review the UK’s financial ties to the multinational logistics company DP World over its business deals in Russia.

The business announced a £1bn expansion of the London Gateway port earlier this month, despite a row over the transport secretary, Louise Haigh, calling its ferry subsidiary, P&O Ferries, a “rogue operator”.

Continue reading...

Putin does not deny North Korea has sent soldiers to Russia

Posted on by

President’s comments at Brics summit are ambiguous, however, US says it has evidence of movement of troops who could fight in Ukraine

Vladimir Putin has sidestepped claims that North Korea has sent soldiers to Russia, insisting that it was up to Moscow how to run its mutual defence clause with Pyongyang.

Speaking at the close of the Brics summit in Kazan on Thursday, he accused the west of escalating the Ukraine war and said it was “living an illusion” if it thought it could inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.

Continue reading...

North Korean troops in Russia are ‘fair game’ if deployed to fight in Ukraine, US says

Posted on by

US says for first time that North Korea has sent at least 3,000 soldiers to Russia and are training at military bases

The US has said for the first time that it has seen evidence that North Korea has sent 3,000 troops to Russia for possible deployment in Ukraine, a move that could mark a significant escalation in Russia’s war against its neighbour.

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said it would be “very, very serious” if the North Koreans were preparing to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine, as Kyiv has alleged. But he said it remained to be seen what they would be doing there.

Continue reading...

Putin disrupting food aid for Gaza by attacking Ukraine ports, says Starmer

Posted on by

Russian president ‘willing to gamble on food security’ by stepping up strikes on grain ships, says UK prime minister

Keir Starmer has accused Vladimir Putin of disrupting food supplies to Gaza after British intelligence suggested Russia had stepped up its attacks on Ukrainian ports.

Starmer said it was clear the Russian president was “willing to gamble on global food security” after several grain ships en route to developing countries were damaged by Russian strikes.

Continue reading...