Ukraine war briefing: ‘Human wave’ of North Korean troops sent to their deaths, US says | Ukraine

According to Ukraine, North Korean troops stationed in Russia’s Kursk region are suffering heavy casualties and are left unprotected by the Russian forces they are fighting alongsidewhile the US says Russian and North Korean generals view the soldiers as “expendable”. Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that Russian troops sent the North Koreans into battle with minimal protection and that the North Koreans took extreme measures to avoid capture. “Their losses are significant, very significant,” the Ukrainian president said in his evening video address. “We see that neither the Russian military nor its North Korean overseers have any interest in ensuring the survival of these North Koreans.” Zelensky said “several” wounded North Korean soldiers died after being captured by Ukrainian forces. In Washington, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the troops sent by Pyongyang killed themselves rather than risk capture. A “human wave” of North Korean soldiers are being sent to their deaths in “hopeless” attacks by generals who deemed them expendable, he said, estimating that Pyongyang suffered more than 1,000 dead or wounded in the past week alone Figures from South Korea confirm something similar.

The Biden administration promised to authorize new military aid to Ukraine, including key air defense systems. Kirby said the promised U.S. security aid package was expected to be announced “in the next few days,” although it was unclear how much it would include. The aid push comes weeks after national security adviser Jake Sullivan met the head of the Ukrainian president’s office, Andriy Yermak, in Washington to pledge extensive support, including the planned delivery of hundreds of thousands of artillery shells, thousands of rockets and hundreds of armored vehicles by mid-January.

Slovakia has confirmed its readiness to host peace talks between Russia and Ukrainedespite Kiev’s accusation that it plays into Vladimir Putin’s hands. The Russian president called it “acceptable” on Thursday that the country would become a “platform” for dialogue on the conflict, which U.S. President-elect Donald Trump could end after taking office in January. That prospect has raised concerns in Kiev that a deal could be pushed through on terms favorable to Moscow while Ukraine struggles on the battlefield. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Facebook late Friday: “If anyone wants to organize peace talks in Slovakia, we will be ready and welcoming.”

Ukraine has received its first shipment of liquefied natural gas from the USAa deal that Kiev says will strengthen Ukraine and Europe’s energy security as a major gas transit deal with Russia expires. Despite the war, Moscow continued to pump gas through Ukraine to Europe as part of a multi-billion dollar deal. Kiev has long said it will not renew it when it expires at the end of this year. “Dtek, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, today received its first shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States,” the company said on Friday. The delivery included about 100 million cubic meters of gas, Agence France-Presse said.

Russia’s state security service claimed Saturday that it foiled a Ukrainian plot to kill a senior Russian officer and a pro-Russian war blogger with a bomb hidden in a portable music speaker. According to the Federal Security Service (FSB), a Russian citizen contacted an official from the Ukrainian military intelligence service GUR via the messaging app Telegram. On the instructions of the Ukrainian intelligence officer, the Russian then recovered the bomb from a hiding place in Moscow, the FSB claimed. Neither the official nor the blogger who was the target were named. Ukraine’s GUR could not immediately be reached for comment.

A Russian court has sentenced a singer who burned his passport to protest against Moscow’s Ukraine War to five and a half years in prison. State news agency RIA Novosti reported that Eduard Sharlot, 26, was found guilty by a court in the Volga city of Samara of “publicly insulting” the religious feelings of believers and “rehabilitating Nazism” in a trial over videos he posted online. The singer posted a video in June 2023 in which he burned his Russian passport in protest against the military operation. In another video, he nailed a photo of Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, which has strongly supported the offensive, to a crucifix. Sharlot initially left Russia for Armenia after the offensive, but was arrested at St. Petersburg airport in November 2023 when he attempted to return to Russia.