Small number of North Korean troops already in Ukraine, CNN reports
"It seems that a good many of them are already in action," one of the officials told CNN, referring to the North Koreans.
Team
Kateryna Hodunova is a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a sports journalist in several Ukrainian outlets and was the deputy chief editor at Suspilne Sport. Kateryna covered the 2022 Olympics in Beijing and was included in the Special Mentions list at the AIPS Sport Media Awards. She holds a bachelor's degree in political journalism from Taras Shevchenko University and a master's degree in political science from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
"It seems that a good many of them are already in action," one of the officials told CNN, referring to the North Koreans.
The military plant of the German concern Rheinmetall, which opened in late October in Ukraine, is a "legitimate" target for Russian attacks, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Oct. 29.
The new limit will take effect on Dec. 1, 2024, and operators will be able to review it monthly starting in March 2025.
Some 160,000 people are planned to be drafted into Ukrainian forces, which will raise the manning of units to 85%, National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksandr Lytvynenko said on Oct. 29.
The funds allocated by Norway will be used to buy a new Patriot system for Romania to replace the one it handed over to Ukraine on Oct. 3.
Andriy Kostin's resignation was supported by 255 members of parliament.
Croatia has committed to supplying 30 M-84 tanks and 30 M-80 infantry fighting vehicles, as well as spare parts and ammunition, in exchange for financial means to purchase up to 50 Leopard 2A8 tanks, according to the memorandum.
Russian forces attacked downtown Kharkiv using a FAB-500 bomb on Oct. 28, injuring at least nine people. The strike damaged the Derzhprom building (the State Industry Building), under enhanced UNESCO protection since 2022.
Because North Korea and Russia do not publish official statistics on the country's bilateral trade, there is uncertainty. But even the minimum estimate of shipments is over $1.7 billion, the study reads.
"A portion of those soldiers have already moved closer to Ukraine, and we are increasingly concerned that Russia intends to use these soldiers in combat or to support combat operations against Ukrainian forces in Russia's Kursk Oblast near the border with Ukraine," said Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh.
The first North Korean troops were to be deployed in the combat zone on Oct. 27 or 28, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky.
"Russia itself has killed a lot of Russians. A lot of mobilized Russian soldiers were killed by the Russian army itself because they were afraid to attack, to perish under the bullets, or to be wounded. So, they retreated and then were killed by their army," President Volodymyr Zelensky told Times of India.
Fred Fleitz, a former CIA analyst who served in Trump's White House and is now at the America First Policy Institute Center for American Security, suggested in an interview with the FT that Ukraine's membership in NATO could be taken off the agenda for several years to force Russia to the negotiating table.
"If Mr. President is so confident in his influence over Putin, could he help free Azovstal defenders and all Ukrainians from Russian captivity right away? Time is of the essence," Ukrainian world boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk wrote on X.
A Russian suicide drone hit a 25-story residential building in Kyiv's Solomianskyi district on Oct. 25, killing a 15-year-old girl and injuring five people, Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported.
"Russia's losses are quite high. And this month seems to be one of the biggest in terms of losses for Russia," said Janek Kesselmann, the deputy commander of the Estonian Military Intelligence Center.
Russia plans to assign an interpreter to every 30 North Korean soldiers for better interaction on the battlefield, Ukraine's military intelligence reported on Oct. 25, citing an intercepted conversation between service members of a Russian brigade in Kursk Oblast.
Polish President Andrzej Duda said he had talked to Kyiv about the possible transfer of South Korean weapons but that his response to the allies was "unequivocal."
"Any outcome must be in Russia's favor, I say directly, without any embarrassment, and must be based on the realities on the battlefield," Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
Rheinmetall transferred so far about 200 combat vehicles, including over a hundred Marder 1A3 models, to Ukraine directly or indirectly through the so-called ring exchange.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin arrived in Tashkent in August to hold talks with Uzbek officials about potentially joining the EAEU, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the new "center of a multipolar world."
Russian troops are attempting to establish crossings near the Oskil River to advance toward the city of Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast, according to Ruslan Muzychuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine's National Guard, who spoke on national television on Oct. 24.
The first North Korean soldiers to participate alongside Russian forces in the war against Ukraine have been deployed to the front line in Kursk Oblast, Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) reported on Oct. 24.
Officials from U.S. President Joe Biden's administration raised the possibility of these sanctions during a G7 deputy finance ministers meeting on Oct. 22 in Washington, D.C.
Parliament passed the bill on July 16, which aimed to cancel daylight saving time in Ukraine. This means that Ukrainians would set their clocks back one hour for the last time on Oct. 27, 2024, and will not revert back to summer time next spring.
Auchan, one of the few French chains still operating in Russia, is in final negotiations to sell its Russian subsidiary to a local buyer, French media La Lettre reported on Oct. 24.
Daleep Singh, the White House deputy national security adviser on international economics, said that Joe Biden's administration intends to split the funds between helping the Ukrainian economy and the military.
"The next step is advanced fast jet training and conversion to F-16 with partner nations," the statement read.
"The situation in Toretsk has relatively stabilized. We (Ukrainian forces) are now holding the line unchanged," Anastasiia Bobovnikova, a spokesperson of the Operational Tactical Group Luhansk, said.
"Signs of troops being trained inside North Korea were detected in September and October," Park Sun-won, a member of a parliamentary intelligence committee, said.
Launched in September 2022 by Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence, the 24-hour "I Want to Live" hotline helps Russian soldiers willingly surrender themselves or their units to the Ukrainian army.
Hours prior, Ivan Petrychak, a representative of the 24th Mechanized Brigade's press service, said on national television that the Russian military managed to breach the defense, but there were no signs of the city's potential loss.