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North Korea’s soldiers fighting on behalf of Russia inside Vladimir Putin’s ‘meat grinder’ war will be a legitimate military target, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said.
The top US diplomat said that the North Korean soldiers will enter the war in Ukraine “in coming days” as he confirmed there are 10,000 North Korean troops in Russia, including as many as 8,000 in the Kursk region.
The US and South Korea have ramped up their pitch calling on North Korea to withdraw their troops already inside Ukraine and fighting alongside Russia.
“Should DPRK’s troops enter Ukraine in support of Russia, they will surely return in body bags. So I would advise Chairman Kim to think twice about engaging in such reckless and dangerous behaviour,” Robert Wood, US envoy to the UN, said.
On the war front, at least three, including a 12-year-old boy and a teenager, were killed in a Russian-guided bomb strike on Kharkiv. A child aged 12 was among the dead in the Wednesday evening strike, and thirty-six people were injured.
Pentagon chief says Putin lost a lot of troops and is now relying on North Korea
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin has said Russia is now relying on North Korean troops in the wake of heavy battlefield losses.
“They’re doing this because (Russian president Vladimir) Putin has lost a lot of troops,” Mr Austin said, adding that Moscow has a choice between mobilising more of its own forces or turning to others for help.
Mr Austin said Ukraine could hold on to Russian territory in Kursk, and that the number of North Korean troops pales in comparison to casualties Russian forces recently have been suffering – some 1,250 a day.
“I do believe that they can hold on to the territory, if they choose to do that. They do have options,” Austin said of Ukrainian troops.
Russia has had to shift some resources to the Kursk border region to respond to Ukraine’s offensive.
Arpan Rai1 November 2024 08:00
North Korean troop deployment in Russia is key topic as US and South Korean leaders meet
The deployment of up to 12,000 North Korean troops to Russia has become a key topic as US and South Korean leaders meet in Washington this week, fueling concerns that the presence of those soldiers will further destabilise the Asia-Pacific and broaden Moscow’s war on Ukraine.
As some of those troops moved closer to Ukraine this week from training sites in eastern Russia, the main questions revolve around what new military technologies North Korea might get from Russia in exchange for the deployment and whether it might lead other nations to send their own forces to fight in the war.
Arpan Rai1 November 2024 07:35
Russia says it downed 83 Ukrainian drones overnight
Russian air defences downed 83 Ukrainian drones overnight, the TASS news agency cited Russia’s defence ministry this morning.
Arpan Rai1 November 2024 07:10
ICYMI: South Korea considers sending team to Ukraine to monitor North Korean troop deployment
North Korea has sent some 11,000 soldiers to Russia and over 3,000 of them have been moved close to the frontlines, Reuters quoted an unnamed South Korean official as saying.
The official said North Korea will gain military knowledge from its troops helping the Russian war effort which poses a military threat to South Korea. “So it is incumbent upon us to analyse and monitor the activities of North Korean troops against our ally, Ukraine,” the official added.
Salma Ouaguira1 November 2024 07:00
Former North Korean soldiers on why troops will volunteer to fight in Ukraine
The thousands of young soldiers North Korea has sent to Russia, reportedly to help fight against Ukraine, are mostly elite special forces, but that hasn’t stopped speculation they’ll be slaughtered because they have no combat experience, no familiarity with the terrain and will likely be dropped onto the most ferocious battlefields.
That may be true, and soon. Observers say the troops are already arriving at the front. From the North Korean perspective, however, these soldiers might not be as miserable as outsiders think.
They may, in fact, view their Russian tour with pride and as a rare chance to make good money, see a foreign country for the first time, and win preferred treatment for their families back home, according to former North Korean soldiers.
Arpan Rai1 November 2024 06:40
Why are North Koreans troops in Ukraine? Everything we know about Kim Jong-un’s soldiers joining Putin’s war
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said some North Korean soldiers have already moved closer to Ukraine and were believed to be heading for the Kursk border region. The Russian forces are facing difficulty in pushing back Ukraine’s cross-border incursion launched on 6 August.
This came within hours of Nato secretary general Mark Rutte confirming recent Ukrainian intelligence reports of the presence of North Korean military units deployed to Kursk near the Ukrainian border.
Arpan Rai1 November 2024 06:15
VOICES: Will David Lammy’s trip to Beijing fix the UK’s China problem?
The foreign secretary’s unexpectedly early visit risks exposing the limits of the UK’s influence on the world stage, writes Mary Dejevsky:
Salma Ouaguira1 November 2024 06:00
In photos: Russian bomb hits residential building in Ukraine’s 2nd largest city, killing 12-year-old boy
Arpan Rai1 November 2024 05:57
Russia says it is unhappy with Turkish arms supplies to Ukraine
Russia is “surprised” that Turkey continues to supply Ukraine with weapons while trying to act as a mediator in the conflict between the two countries, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told the Hurriyet newspaper.
“Turkish weapons are used by the Ukrainian armed forces to kill Russian military personnel and civilians,” Mr Lavrov said in an interview published yesterday.
“This situation cannot but cause surprise, given the Turkish government’s statements that it is ready to provide mediation services,” he said.
Arpan Rai1 November 2024 05:40
Russia’s torture of Ukrainian civilians, prisoners is a crime against humanity, UN expert panel says
Russia’s torture of Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war is a crime against humanity, UN-backed human rights experts said yesterday.
Erik Mose, chair of the independent commission investigating human rights violations in Ukraine, told reporters that the panel previously described Russia’s widespread and systematic use of torture in Ukraine and Russia against civilians and prisoners, both men and women, as a war crime.
“Our recent findings demonstrate that Russian authorities have committed torture in all provinces of Ukraine that came under their control, as well as in the detention facilities that the commission has investigated in the Russian Federation,” he said.
Mose said the commission is an investigative body. He noted that Ukraine‘s prosecutor general and the International Criminal Court are investigating possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine and the commission may be asked for evidence.
The commissioners examined reports from 41 different detention centers, from makeshift centers to well-established facilities, in nine occupied regions of Ukraine and eight areas in Russia, Mose said.
He said the commission identified further evidence that violent practices common in Russian detention facilities were also practiced in similar facilities in Russian-occupied areas in eastern Ukraine, he said.
The commission also found additional evidence of the recurrent use of sexual violence as a form of torture, Mose said.
Detainees were subjected to rape, long periods of forced nudity, body searches and more, commission member Vrinda Gover said. She said most prisoners of war reported being subjected to sexual violence and suffering long-lasting psychological trauma.
Arpan Rai1 November 2024 05:20