Russia Ukraine war latest: Kyiv says North Korean troops using fake IDs have suffered 1,100 casualties in Kursk

The situation with European countries that buy Russian gas is very complicated and requires increased attention, the Kremlin announced on Monday after the talks between President Vladimir Putin and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fitz the previous day.

Fico said on Sunday that Putin had confirmed Russia’s willingness to continue supplying gas to Slovakia, although the Slovak leader said it was “practically impossible” after a gas transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine expires at the end of the year.

It was not clear what potential solution the two leaders could discuss.

Ukraine has refused to renew the gas transit contract. President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that it might be possible, but only on the condition that Russia is not paid for the gas until the war is over.

“You have heard the statement of the Ukrainian side and you know the views of those European countries that continue to buy Russian gas and that consider it necessary for the normal functioning of their economies,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

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

Ukraine’s security services have named the Russian general they suspect ordered a missile attack on a hotel in eastern Ukraine in August and said he acted “with the motive of deliberately killing employees” Reuters.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said in a statement on Friday that Lt. Gen. Alexei Kim, the deputy chief of the Russian General Staff, authorized the Aug. 24 attack that killed Reuters security adviser Ryan Evans and wounded two Reuters journalists.

In a statement posted on the Telegram messenger, the SBU said it was informing Kim in absentia that he was an official suspect in its investigation into the attack on the Sapphire Hotel in Kramatorsk, a step in Ukraine’s criminal proceedings that could later lead to charges.

In a separate 15-page notice of suspicion, in which the SBU reported the findings of its investigation, the agency stated that the decision to fire the missiles was made “with the motive of deliberately killing workers of the international news agency Reuters who were engaged in journalistic activity in Ukraine.”

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

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an emailed comment to Reuters that “the Russian military is only striking military infrastructure” in Ukraine.

A Russian delegation has arrived in Tehran for a visit that includes a meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkiyan, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Monday, as the two countries prepare to sign a comprehensive cooperation agreement.

Iran and Russia are working on setting a date to complete the agreement, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday, adding that the deal would be signed during a bilateral visit in January.

Russia has cultivated closer ties with Iran and other countries hostile to the United States, such as North Korea, since the start of the war in Ukraine.

The country’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said in October that Moscow and Tehran intended to sign an agreement that would include closer cooperation in the field of defense.

South Korea’s military said Monday it had detected signs that North Korea is preparing to send more troops and weapons, including suicide drones, to Russia to support its war against Ukraine.

North Korea has already provided 240mm multi-barrel rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled howitzers, and was seen preparing to produce more suicide drones to be delivered to Russia after leader Kim Jong Un conducted a test last month, according to the Joint Seoul Headquarters (JCS). ).

“Suicide drones are one of the tasks that Kim Jong Un has focused on,” the JCS official said, adding that the North has expressed its intention to hand them over to Russia.

Such drones were widely used in the war in Ukraine, and Kim ordered the mass production of aerial weapons and an update of military theory and education, citing intensifying global competition, state media reported.

Seoul, Washington and Kiev announced that there are about 12,000 North Korean soldiers in Russia. The JCS said at least 1,100 of them were killed or wounded, according to a briefing last week by South Korea’s spy agency, which reported about 100 dead and another 1,000 wounded in the Kursk region.

US President-elect Donald Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed interest in meeting with him to discuss the war in Ukraine.

“President Putin said he wants to meet with me as soon as possible,” Trump said during a speech at Turning Point’s America Fest convention yesterday. “So we have to wait for this, but we have to finish that war. That war is terrible, terrible,” he said, according to CNBC.

“The number of soldiers killed…” Trump said. “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.”

Trump previously claimed he could end the war in Ukraine “in 24 hours” if elected.

Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 47 of 72 drones launched by Russia across the country.

A statement to Telegram this morning said an additional 25 drones did not reach their targets and were “locally lost”.

Russia’s Gazprom announced that it will send 42.1 million cubic meters of gas to Europe via Ukraine this morning, which is in line with previous days.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that he considers the sometimes harsh criticism of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to be unjustified, DPA reported.

Although Germany has been a vital ally of Ukraine, its reluctance to provide long-range Taurus cruise missiles is a source of frustration in Kiev, which is fighting an enemy armed with a powerful array of long-range weapons.

“I often told Zelensky that he should stop criticizing Olaf Scholz, because I think it’s unfair,” Mr. Rutte said in an interview on Monday, DPA reports.

Mr Rutte also said that he, unlike Mr Scholz, would supply Ukraine with Taurus cruise missiles and would not place restrictions on their use.

“In general, we know that such capabilities are very important for Ukraine,” Mr. Rutte said, adding that it was not up to him to decide what allies should deliver.

After Mr Scholz’s phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in November, Zelensky said it had opened a Pandora’s box that undermined efforts to isolate the Russian leader and end the war in Ukraine with a “fair peace”.