Russia Ukraine conflict newest: North Korea prepares to ship kamikaze drones and extra troops to battlefield | EUROtoday

The scenario with European international locations that purchase Russian gasoline could be very difficult and requires elevated consideration, the Kremlin stated on Monday after talks the day before today between President Vladimir Putin and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.

Fico stated on Sunday that Putin had confirmed Russian willingness to proceed to provide gasoline to Slovakia, though the Slovak chief stated this was “practically impossible” as soon as a gasoline transit settlement between Russia and Ukraine expires on the finish of the yr.

It was not clear what potential resolution the 2 leaders might need mentioned.

Ukraine has declined to resume the gasoline transit deal. President Volodymyr Zelensky stated final week this may be attainable, however solely given that Russia was not paid for the gasoline till after the conflict was over.

“You heard the statement from the Ukrainian side, and you know about the positions of those European countries that continue to buy Russian gas and that consider this necessary for the normal operation of their economies,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov informed reporters.

“Therefore, there is now a very complicated situation here that requires increased attention.”

Ukraine‘s security service has named a Russian general it suspects of ordering a missile strike on a hotel in eastern Ukraine in August and said he acted “with the motive of deliberately killing employees of” Reuters.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said in a statement on Friday that Colonel General Alexei Kim, a deputy chief of Russia’s General Staff, permitted the strike that killed Reuters security adviser Ryan Evans and wounded two of the company’s journalists on Aug. 24.

In a press release posted on Telegram messenger the SBU stated it was notifying Kim in absentia that he was an official suspect in its investigation into the strike on the Sapphire Hotel in Kramatorsk, a step in Ukrainian felony proceedings that may later result in costs.

In a separate, 15-page discover of suspicion, during which the SBU set out findings from its investigation, the company stated that the choice to fireside the missile was made “with the motive of deliberately killing employees of the international news agency Reuters who were engaged in journalistic activities in Ukraine“.

The document, which was published on the website of the General Prosecutor’s Office on Friday, said that Kim had received intelligence that Reuters staff were staying in Kramatorsk. It added that Kim would have been “fully aware that the individuals were civilians and not participating in the armed conflict”.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated in an emailed remark to Reuters that “the Russian military only strikes military infrastructure” in Ukraine.

A Russian delegation arrived in Tehran for a go to that features a assembly with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Russian state information company TASS reported on Monday, as the 2 international locations put together to signal a complete cooperation settlement.

Iran and Russia have been engaged on setting a date to finish an settlement, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei stated on Monday, including that the deal is about to be signed throughout a bilateral go to in January.

Russia has cultivated nearer ties with Iran and different international locations hostile in direction of the United States, akin to North Korea, for the reason that begin of the Ukraine conflict.

The nation’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated in October that Moscow and Tehran meant to signal a deal which would come with nearer defence cooperation.

South Korea’s navy stated on Monday that it has detected indicators of North Korea making ready to ship extra troops and weapons, together with suicide drones, to Russia to help its conflict towards Ukraine.

North Korea has already supplied 240mm a number of rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled howitzers, and was seen making ready to provide extra suicide drones to be shipped to Russia after chief Kim Jong Un guided a take a look at final month, based on Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

“Suicide drones are one of the tasks that Kim Jong Un has focused on,” a JCS official stated, including that the North had expressed its intention to present them to Russia.

Such drones have been extensively used within the Ukraine conflict, and Kim ordered a mass manufacturing of the aerial weapons and an replace of navy idea and training, citing intensifying international competitors, state media reported.

Seoul, Washington and Kyiv have stated there are round 12,000 North Korean troops in Russia. The JCS stated not less than 1,100 of them had been killed or wounded, consistent with final week’s briefing by South Korea’s spy company which reported some 100 deaths with one other 1,000 wounded within the Kursk area.

US president-elect Donald Trump stated Russian president Vladimir Putin has expressed his curiosity in a gathering him to debate the Ukraine conflict.

“President Putin said that he wants to meet with me as soon as possible,” Mr Trump stated throughout his remarks at Turning Point’s America Fest conference yesterday. “So we have to wait for this, but we have to end that war. That war is horrible, horrible,” he was quoted as saying by CNBC.

“The number of soldiers being killed…” Mr Trump stated. “It’s a flat plane, and the bullets are going and there’s powerful bullets, powerful guns, and the only thing that’s going to stop them is a human body.”

Earlier, Mr Trump has claimed he may finish the Ukraine conflict “in 24 hours” if he will get elected.

Ukraine’s air pressure stated it had shot down 47 out of 72 Russia-launched drones throughout the nation.

In a press release on Telegram this morning, it stated that an extra 25 drones had not reached targets and have been “locationally lost”.

Russia’s Gazprom stated that it could ship 42.1 million cubic metres of gasoline to Europe through Ukraine this morning, a quantity consistent with latest days.

Nato secretary normal Mark Rutte stated he thought-about the typically harsh criticism of German chancellor Olaf Scholz by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to be unjustified, information wire DPA reported.

Although Germany has been an important ally of Ukraine, its hesitation in offering long-range Taurus cruise missiles has been a supply of frustration in Kyiv, which is battling a foe armed with a robust array of long-range weaponry.

“I have often told Zelenskiy that he should stop criticising Olaf Scholz, because I think it is unfair,” DPA quoted Mr Rutte on Monday as saying in an interview.

Mr Rutte additionally stated that he, in contrast to Mr Scholz, would provide Ukraine with Taurus cruise missiles and wouldn’t set limits on their use.

“In general, we know that such capabilities are very important for Ukraine,”Mr Rutte stated, including that it was less than him to determine what allies ought to ship.

After a November phone name by Mr Scholz with Russia’s chief Vladimir Putin in November, Mr Zelensky stated it had opened a Pandora’s field that undermined efforts to isolate the Russian chief and finish the conflict in Ukraine with a “fair peace”.