Ukraine-Russia war: South Korea tells Russian envoy to withdraw North Korean troops

Ukraine’s foreign ministry has criticised the UN secretary general Antonio Guterres for what it said was his acceptance of an invitation from Vladimir Putin to the Russia-hosted Brics summit this week.

The UN has neither confirmed nor denied whether Mr Guterres will be attending the summit in Kazan,

“The UN secretary general declined Ukraine’s invitation to the first Global Peace Summit in Switzerland,” the ministry said. “He did, however, accept the invitation to Kazan from war criminal Putin. This is a wrong choice that does not advance the cause of peace. It only damages the UN’s reputation,” the ministry said.

Putin hosts a summit of Brics nations in the central Russian city of Kazan from Tuesday, aimed at showcasing the clout of non-Western countries. Leaders attending include Chinese president Xi Jinping and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi.

According to Russian officials, Mr Guterres had told minister Sergei Lavrov at the UN general assembly last month that he intended to go to Kazan.

It is not clear if the UN chief is visiting Kazan. “Announcements on his future travels will be later on down the line,” said deputy UN spokesperson Farham Haq.

The US “will get Ukraine what it needs” to fight its war with Russia and “to fight for its survival and security”, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said in his Kyiv visit.

Speaking at the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine, the Pentagon chief noted that the US has delivered more than $58bn in security assistance for Ukraine since Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion, making it Kyiv’s main backer.

Mr Austin said “there is no silver bullet. No single capability will turn the tide. No one system will end Putin’s assault.” He added: “Make no mistake. The United States does not seek war with Russia.”

“What matters is the way that Ukraine fights back,” Mr Austin told the assembled diplomatic and military personnel at the academy. “What matters is the combined effects of your military capabilities. And what matters is staying focused on what works.”

However, he gave no indication of whether Washington would endorse the key planks of Volodymyr Zelensky’s five-point “victory plan”.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced $400 million in new arms for Ukraine on Monday during a visit to Kyiv, in a show of solidarity just two weeks before a U.S. presidential election that is casting uncertainty over the future of Western support.

Austin’s trip, his fourth and likely final visit as President Joe Biden’s Pentagon chief, focused on U.S. efforts to help Kyiv shore up its defences as Russian forces slowly but steadily gain ground in eastern Ukraine.

Austin cast Ukraine’s fight against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 2-1/2-year-old invasion as critical to the West’s own security, saying failure to continue supporting Kyiv would result in “Putin’s shadow” falling over all Europe.

“We should all understand that Putin’s assault is a warning. It is a sneak preview of a world built by tyrants and thugs, a chaotic, violent world carved into spheres of influence,” he said in a speech.

As Austin stepped off the train in Kyiv after an overnight journey from Poland, Ukrainian officials reported new Russian attacks overnight on the capital that damaged residential buildings and injured at least one civilian.

A Ukrainian drone attack damaged two distilleries in Russia’s Tula region south of Moscow, its governor said this morning.

“According to preliminary information, there are no casualties,” Tula governor Dmitry Miliayev said. “Emergency services specialists are working at the scene. The situation is under control.”

The Russian officials did not disclose the scale of the attack and the damage to the distilleries in the town of Yefremov and the village of Luzhkovskyi.

Another drone attack in Bryansk region this morning also damaged a boiler house and a non-residential building in Russia’s west. There were no injuries as a result of the attack, Bryansk governor Alexander Bogomaz said.

He added that Russian air defence units destroyed at least six Ukrainian drones over the territory of the region.

Alexei Navalny’s memoir Patriot compiled from his prison diaries is set to be published tomorrow.

The Russian opposition leader’s memoir has been edited by his widow Yulia Navalnaya and will be released in 22 languages, including Russian.

Navalny, the most prominent critic of Vladimir Putin until his death earlier this year, wrote that he expected to die in prison. “I knew from the outset that I would be imprisoned for life – either the rest of my life or until the end of the life of this regime,” he wrote in a diary entry in March 2022. “I will spend the rest of my life in prison and die here,” he said.

His widow has said she “wants his voice to be heard loudly even after his death”. Navalny died under unknown circumstances inside a Russian prison facility on 16 February 2024.

Putin’s forces have not “managed to gain a foothold” in the war-town city of Chasiv Yar despite claims of Russian advances.

Anastasia Bobovnikova, a spokesperson of the operational tactical group Luhansk, told the Kyiv Independent: “I do not confirm the fact that Russian troops have managed to gain a foothold in the canal … or anywhere in the direction of Chasiv Yar.

“The overall strategic position of the city remains under the control of Ukraine.”

It comes after the crowd-sourced war-monitoring website DeepState reported on October 17 that Russian forces had made advances.

Bobovnikova explained that groups of Russian soldiers had occasionally crossed the canal and carried out assaults on Ukrainian positions, adding: “However, such manoeuvres are accompanied by significant losses for the Russians. Ukrainian forces quickly repel such attacks, pushing Russian units back.”

The UK is using profits on frozen Russian assets to loan £2.26 billion to Ukraine to aid with its fight against Russia’s invasion, it has been announced.

The funds represent the UK’s share of a $50 billion (£38.39 billion) loan package agreed upon by the G7 nations, financed through interest generated from sanctioned Russian sovereign assets.

The money could be used to fund air defence, artillery or other military equipment and comes on top of the UK’s existing £3 billion-a-year support for Ukraine.

Announcing the package, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “Our support for Ukraine and her men and women in their fight for freedom from Putin’s aggression is unwavering and will remain so for as long as it takes.

“This new money is in Britain’s national interest because the front line of our defence – the defence of our democracy and shared values – is in the Ukrainian trenches. A safe and secure Ukraine is a safe and secure United Kingdom.”

Ukrainian officials have released a video purporting to show dozens of North Korean recruits lining up to collect Russian military fatigues.

The video confirms Russia’s deployment of troops sent by Pyongyang into the conflict, they claimed. In the video, North Korean soldiers are seen standing in line to pick up bags, clothes and other apparel from Russian servicemen.

“We received this video from our own sources. We cannot provide additional verification from the sources who provided it to us due to security concerns,” said Ihor Solovey, the head of Ukraine’s Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security.

“The video clearly shows North Korean citizens being given Russian uniforms under the direction of the Russian military,” he said.

“For Ukraine, this video is important because it is the first video evidence that shows North Korea participating in the war on the side of Russia. Now not only with weapons and shells but also with personnel.”

The centre claims the footage was shot by a Russian soldier in recent days. It didn’t say how the footage was obtained. The location is unknown.

Russia launched several waves of drones targeting Kyiv for the second night in a row, damaging residential buildings and injuring at least one civilian, Ukrainian officials said early today.

“Another night, another worry,” Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration said. “The enemy does not reduce the intensity of air attacks on Ukraine and Kyiv.”

About 10 drones targeting the city in several waves and from different directions were destroyed, Mr Popko said. While none of the weapons hit their target, falling debris injured at least one man, he added.

Debris fell onto three of Kyiv’s major districts, causing some damage to roofs and the facades of several residential buildings and power cables, mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

Four firefighters in an industrial zone in Dzerzhinsk in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region received minor shrapnel wounds from a Ukrainian drone attack, the region’s governor said on Sunday.

“They were given the necessary medical care, everyone was sent home,” Gleb Nikitin said on the Telegram messaging app.

The Russian RIA agency reported that Russian air defence systems destroyed 110 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions, including eight over Nizhny Novgorod region, some 400 km east of Moscow.