Ukraine-Russia battle newest: UK denies spying claims towards British diplomat as Kyiv recollects defective shells | EUROtoday

Ukraine is withdrawing defective 120mm mortar shells from the frontline after a number of stories of them misfiring, officers mentioned.

The provide of faulty shells is being investigated by an interdepartmental fee, Ukraine’s defence ministry mentioned, which mentioned round 100,000 Ukraine-made 120mm rounds needed to be recalled from the battlefield.

Several complaints and movies shared on social media confirmed the mortar shells not exploding or failing to hit their targets. Ukraine’s defence ministry confirmed the withdrawal of the batches of ammunition and mentioned it’ll now present Ukrainian forces with imported shells.

Earlier this month, Ukrainian troopers mentioned the rounds didn’t explode, remained caught within the launcher or fell astray.

In a press release issued yesterday, the FSB mentioned: “During counterintelligence work, the Russian Federal Security Service has discovered an undeclared British intelligence presence under the cover of the national embassy in Moscow.

A new ballistic missile fired by Russia at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro last week carried multiple warheads but no explosives, two senior Ukrainian government sources said. The deadly missiles caused little damage upon hitting targets in Ukraine’s east, they said.

Vladimir Putin said the Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile strike was a successful test and that it reached its target – a missile and defence enterprise in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.

Their comments appeared to confirm the Kremlin’s own description of the weapon’s use last Thursday as a warning to the West after the United States and Britain allowed Ukraine to fire their missiles into Russia.

The two sources provided more details about the new weapon as Western experts try to learn more about what US officials say was an experimental intermediate-range missile.

Intermediate-range ballistic missiles are typically meant to be used for long-range nuclear strikes on targets thousands of kilometres away. One of the sources said the missile was carrying dummy warheads and described the damage caused as “quite small”.

The second supply mentioned: “In this case, (the missile) was without explosives… There were no types of explosions like we expected. There was something, but it was not huge.”

Russian forces are advancing in Ukraine on the quickest charge because the early days of the 2022 invasion, taking an space half the scale of London over the previous month, analysts and battle bloggers mentioned.

Russian troops swept by way of swathes of Ukraine in early 2022 earlier than being pushed again to its east and south. The 1,000km (620-mile) frontline has been largely static for 2 years, till the newest, smaller-scale advances that started in July.

“Russia has set new weekly and monthly records for the size of the occupied territory in Ukraine,” unbiased Russian information group Agentstvo mentioned in a report.

The Russian military captured nearly 235 sq km (91 sq miles) in Ukraine over the previous week, a weekly document for 2024, it mentioned.

Russian forces had taken 600 sq km (232 sq miles) in November, it added, citing knowledge from DeepState, which research fight footage and supplies entrance line maps.

The battle is getting into what some Russian and Western officers say may very well be its most harmful section, with Russia reported to be utilizing North Korean troops in Ukraine and Kyiv now utilizing Western-supplied missiles to strike again inside Russia.

Moscow, which like North Korea has not confirmed or denied the presence of the troops, used a hypersonic intermediate-range missile on Ukraine final week and Ukraine reported the most important Russian drone assault on its territory to this point yesterday.

The thrust of the advance has been in Donetsk area, with Russian forces pushing in the direction of the city of Pokrovsk and into the city of Kurakhove. Russia has more and more encircled territory after which pummelled Ukrainian forces with artillery and glide bombs, in keeping with Russian analysts.

Sergei Naryshkin, the top of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, mentioned yesterday that Russia held the entire strategic initiative on the battlefield.

Neither facet publishes correct knowledge on their very own losses although Western intelligence estimates casualties to quantity tons of of 1000’s killed or injured, whereas swathes of jap and southern Ukraine have changed into wastelands.

A Ukrainian delegation led by defence minister Rustem Umerov is visiting South Korea to ask for weapons to make use of in its battle with Russia, in keeping with media stories.

The delegation had met with South Korea’s nationwide safety adviser Shin Won-sik to alternate views on the battle in Ukraine, the DongA Ilbo newspaper reported immediately, with out giving a supply.

Volodymyr Zelensky has mentioned Kyiv will ship an in depth request to Seoul for arms help together with artillery and air defence methods, in keeping with his remarks in an interview with South Korean broadcaster KBS in October.

The South China Morning Post additionally reported this week {that a} Ukrainian delegation was attributable to go to South Korea to request weapons support, citing an knowledgeable supply.

The group was anticipated to fulfill South Korean counterparts as early as immediately, in keeping with the report.

South Korea’s overseas minister Cho Tae-yul, requested earlier this month whether or not Seoul would ship weapons to Ukraine in response to North Korea aiding Russia, mentioned all potential eventualities have been into consideration and Seoul can be watching the extent of participation by North Korean troops in Russia and what Pyongyang acquired from Moscow in return.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky famous that every Shahed drone that Russia launched at his nation in a single day on Monday has 85 overseas parts and that Moscow obtained them by circumventing worldwide sanctions.

He mentioned on the Telegram messaging app that “we need more joint effort so that the sanctions work and force Russia to stop this war”.

As Russian Shahed drones unfold out throughout Ukraine late on Monday, the air raid alert within the Kyiv area in a single day lasted greater than seven hours.

Russia is making an attempt to unnerve civilians and put on down their will to withstand within the battle, army analysts say.

In the summer time of 2015, three Syrian women who had narrowly survived an airstrike some weeks earlier stood earlier than Tulsi Gabbard with horrific burns throughout their our bodies.

Gabbard, then a US congresswoman on a go to to the Syria-Turkey border as a part of her duties for the overseas affairs committee, had a query for them.

“How do you know it was Bashar al-Assad or Russia that bombed you, and not Isis?’” she requested, in keeping with Mouaz Moustafa, a Syrian activist who was translating her dialog with the ladies.

Richard Hall and Andrew Feinberg write: