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Ukraine has captured two North Korean soldiers and transported them to Kyiv for questioning in what the country’s security services say is “irrefutable evidence” of Pyongyang’s involvement with Russia.
Both soldiers were captured on 9 January in the Russian border region of Kursk. Another North Korean soldier was captured last month but died from their wounds shortly after being detained.
The Ukrainian security service, known as the SBU, said one of the two latest soldiers captured had fake Russian identification documents. The other had none at all.
Russia and North Korea both deny their soldiers are working together in Kursk. The US, Ukraine, UK and South Korea have all said they believe otherwise.
Communication with the two prisoners is being done through translators and in cooperation with South Korean intelligence.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, posting pictures of the two prisoners of war, said “the world needs to know the truth about what is happening”.
Meanwhile, the Russian military claimed to have taken control of the town of Shevchenko in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, located near the outskirts of the city of Pokrovsk.
The city is a key defensive position protecting the wider region. Ukrainian war trackers suggested the town had been, if not occupied, almost completely captured.
Ukraine drones strike one of Russia’s largest oil refineries
Ukraine claims it has conducted a drone strike on Taneko oil refinery in Tatarstan, one of Russia’s largest oil-processing facilities.
Ukraine’s head of the Center for Countering Disinformation Andrii Kovalenko confirmed the strike with local footage showing smoke from the site.
The plant’s staff were urgently evacuated to safety, according to Kyiv Post.
Russia’s largest refinery, “Taneko,” is raging with fire right now in Tatarstan, located 1000 km from Ukraine, after a drone attack.
The plant’s employees are being urgently evacuated as the fire continues to spread. pic.twitter.com/ZjjbCtvrZU
“The refinery plays a key role in providing fuel to the Russian military. Taking out refineries and oil depots directly affects Russia’s ability to wage an intensive war,” Mr Kovalenko said.
Vishwam Sankaran12 January 2025 02:55
Solution to ending war is Ukraine joining Nato, says Boris Johnson
Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson says the solution to ending the war in Ukraine is for the country to join Nato.
Speaking to the Lithuanian news platform Delfi, Mr Johnson said the West must convey to Russian president Vladimir Putin that “Russia is no longer an empire.”
“What Putin is doing is archaic and barbaric, and he needs to understand that Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania – none of these countries are part of the Russian imperium anymore, and nor is Ukraine. It’s over,” the former UK prime minister said, adding: “No more empire, Vladimir, you f**king idiot!”
“I don’t hear anyone saying that when this catastrophe is over, the solution should be Ukraine’s membership in NATO. People have stopped talking about it. And I think it’s a big loss because the West is retreating again,” he said.
Vishwam Sankaran12 January 2025 06:30
Putin likely to maintain pre-war demands in any new talks with West
Russian president Vladimir Putin is likely to maintain his maximalist pre-war demands to isolate Ukraine and weaken Nato in any potential new talks with the West, the Financial Times reported citing a former senior Kremlin official.
His demands may include preventing Ukraine from joining Nato and forcing the alliance to withdraw from troop deployments in Eastern Europe to ensure there are “no threats to Russia”.
This is in line with his pre-war ultimatum in December 2021 prior to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Kremlin reiterated on Friday that it is ready to hold talks with incoming US president Donald Trump without any “preconditions.”
There may not be “sustainable peace” as long as Putin remains committed to his pre-war demands, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
Vishwam Sankaran12 January 2025 06:10
Ukraine working with South Korea to interact with North Korean POWs
Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) said it is working with South Korean intelligence to communicate with the two North Korean soldiers it captured earlier this week.
The North Korean soldiers fighting with Russia do not speak English, Russian, or Ukrainian, according to a report by the Institute for the Study of War.
One of the North Korean POWs captured by Ukraine told authorities he underwent training with Russian forces for only one week before being deployed.
He said he thought he was going for a training exercise in Russia, and not to a war zone, according to the report.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian or North Korean forces usually killed wounded North Korean personnel to conceal their participation in the war.
Vishwam Sankaran12 January 2025 05:30
New US sanctions at cost of ‘destabilising world markets,’ Russia says
The latest sanctions imposed by the US against the Russian oil industry are an attempt to harm the Kremlin at the risk of “destabilising global markets,” the Russian foreign ministry said yesterday.
Moscow called the measures “an attempt to inflict at least some damage to the Russian economy, even at the cost of the risk of destabilising world markets as the end approaches of President Joe Biden’s inglorious tenure in power.”
“Despite the convulsions in the White House and the machinations of the Russophobic lobby in the West, trying to drag the world energy sector into the ‘hybrid war’ unleashed by the United States against Russia, our country has been and remains a key and reliable player in the global fuel market,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The sanctions targeting several key players in Russia’s oil industry could impact the Kremlin’s war machinery, according to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
They come ahead of US-president elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, who may leverage the move to reach a new deal to end the war.
Vishwam Sankaran12 January 2025 04:44
Russia claims capturing key region near eastern Ukraine
Russia’s defence ministry said it has captured the settlement of Shevchenko, one of its key targets in its advance through Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
The Kremlin said its troops launched over 50 attacks against Ukrainian forces in the eastern Ukrainian region in the past 24 hours.
The “decisive action” ended in the capture of Shevchenko, said Russia, which has been steadily advancing westward in Donetsk for several months.
Vishwam Sankaran12 January 2025 04:15
Afghanistan was largest importer of Russian flour in 2024 – report
Taliban-led Afghanistan emerged as the largest importer of flour from Russia in 2024, according to a new report by the Kremlin’s state agricultural export agency Agroexport.
The report notes that Afghanistan’s purchases doubled last year to about $80 million compared to numbers in 2023.
This is in line with the Taliban’s growing ties with Russia, including Moscow’s steps to officially recognise the regime.
Vishwam Sankaran12 January 2025 03:50
