Ukraine-Russia war latest: North Korea troops in Russia shows Putin is desperate to make up for losses, say G7
Significant number of North Korean troops headed to the frontline areas, including Kursk, says Seoul
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The Group of Seven has branded Russia’s deployment of thousands of North Korean troops into its fight with Ukraine as a “desperate effort” to replenish Moscow’s own losses as Kyiv reports the first combat clashes with Pyongyang’s soldiers.
Kyiv confirmed on Monday that they had fired at North Korean soldiers in the Russian region of Kursk, which has been partly occupied by Ukraine since August.
Foreign ministers from the G7 described the deployment as a “dangerous expansion of the conflict”, with Monday’s clashes marking the first time a sovereign nation has officially engaged its forces in the conflict.
“The DPRK’s (North Korea) direct support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, besides showing Russia’s desperate efforts to compensate its losses, would mark a dangerous expansion of the conflict,” the ministers said in a statement, which was also signed by South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
The ministers said they condemned “in the strongest possible terms” increased military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, including Russia’s “unlawful procurement” of North Korean ballistic missiles.
They added they were deeply concerned about the potential for any transfer of nuclear or ballistic missile-related technology to North Korea.
North Korea’s top diplomat is in Moscow as Pyongyang sent troops to help the war on Ukraine
Tom Watling5 November 2024 16:58
Russian tank factory employee jailed for 16 years in Ukraine treason case
An engineer at a factory that makes tanks for Russia’s war in Ukraine was jailed for 16 years on Tuesday after being convicted of committing state treason by passing military secrets to Kyiv, weeks after his wife received a similar sentence.
The court in Sverdlovsk region said Danil Mukhametov, who worked at the Uralvagonzavod tank factory, had partially admitted his guilt after being accused of passing unspecified technical military information to Ukraine‘s intelligence services.
The court released a photograph of Mukhametov, 32, listening in a glass courtroom cage as the judge read out his sentence, which he will serve in a maximum-security penal colony.
His wife Viktoria, who worked at the same tank factory, Russia’s largest, was handed a 12-1/2 year sentence last month after being convicted of selling technical blueprints to Ukrainian officials for 100,000 roubles or just over $1,000.
She and her husband were arrested in March 2023 by the FSB security service, which published a video of the arrest. It showed her being asked what they planned to do with the money, to which she replied: “Just to live.”
Located in the city of Nizhny Tagil around 1,400 km (870 miles) east of Moscow, the Uralvagonzavod factory has been sanctioned by the West.
Tom Watling5 November 2024 16:02
Apartment block in Belgorod, Russia, hit by drone – report
Tom Watling5 November 2024 15:34
Poland indicts two men in connection with spying for Belarus
Polish prosecutors have indicted two men in a case concerning cooperation with Belarusian intelligence services, they said on Tuesday, one of a string of espionage cases in the Nato member state.
Warsaw says its role as a hub for supplies to Ukraine has made it a target for spies working for Russia and its ally Belarus, as well as for acts of sabotage. Minsk and Moscow have dismissed accusations that they are behind acts of sabotage.
A spokesperson for prosecutors in the southern Polish city of Lublin said in a statement an indictment had been filed against a 53-year-old Belarusian citizen named as Nikolay M. due to privacy laws, as well as a 59-year-old Polish citizen named as Bernard S.
In a separate statement Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW) said it had detained the men in March 2023.
Nikolay M. has been charged with carrying out reconnaissance of a military airport in Biala Podlaska in eastern Poland, as well as collecting information on rail infrastructure, the movement of military equipment and the activities of Polish special services.
Bernard S. was charged with assisting the Belarusian by giving him a place of residence and organising his stay in Poland.
If found guilty they could face up to 10 years in prison.
The Belarusiaan embassy in Warsaw did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tom Watling5 November 2024 14:43
UN chief ‘very concerned’ about North Korean troops in Russia
Tom Watling5 November 2024 14:13
Lithuania says Russia responsible for exploding parcels that caused fires
Russia is behind explosive parcels sent from Lithuania to European countries, a Lithuanian presidential adviser said on Tuesday, amid alarm amongst Nato countries that sabotage organised by Moscow nearly caused an air disaster.
Western governments and intelligence agencies in Europe have previously pointed to Moscow as being the source of a series of fires and acts of sabotage in Europe aimed at destabilising allies of Ukraine.
Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza reported in October that explosive parcels that caused fires in courier depots in Britain, Germany and Poland in July originated in Lithuania.
Britain and Germany have been investigating packages that burst into flames at depots in Birmingham and Leipzig, with Berlin saying a plane crash had been narrowly avoided when an air freight parcel caught fire.
“We are telling our allies that it’s not random, it’s part of military operations,” Kestutis Budrys, an advisor to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, told Ziniu radio on Tuesday.
“We need to neutralise and stop it at the source, and the source is Russia’s military intelligence,” he said.
Budrys’ comments were the first time a Lithuanian official has pointed the finger at Russian military intelligence for a specific act of sabotage.
Tom Watling5 November 2024 13:44
Edwina Currie on selling her antiques to raise money for Ukraine
Tom Watling5 November 2024 12:44
G7 and allies warn Russia over use of North Korean troops in Ukraine
Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven democracies and three key allies said on Tuesday they were gravely concerned by the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia and the possibility they may be used in the war against Ukraine.
“The DPRK’s (North Korea) direct support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, besides showing Russia’s desperate efforts to compensate its losses, would mark a dangerous expansion of the conflict,” the ministers said in a statement.
Besides G7 members the United States, Japan, Italy, Britain, Germany, France and Canada, the statement was also signed by South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
The ministers said they condemned “in the strongest possible terms” increased military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, including Russia’s “unlawful procurement” of North Korean ballistic missiles.
They said they were deeply concerned about the potential for any transfer of nuclear or ballistic missile-related technology to North Korea, and would work with international partners “for a coordinated response to this new development”.
Tom Watling5 November 2024 12:13
