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The US says North Korean troops are killing themselves to avoid being captured by Ukraine
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Vladimir Putin has apologised to his Azerbaijani counterpart over a plane crash in Russian airspace that left dozens dead – but refused to acknowledge Moscow’s possible responsibility for the incident.
Flight J2-8243 crashed on Wednesday in a ball of fire near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from southern Russia where Ukrainian drones were reported to be attacking several cities. At least 38 people were killed while 29 survived.
The US has suggested that Russia could be responsible for the downing of the plane, while sources in Azerbaijan claimed Russian air defence missiles hit the plane.
“Vladimir Putin apologised for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace and once again expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
It comes as the US said North Korean troops fighting alongside Putin’s forces in the Russian border region of Kursk were killing themselves to avoid Ukrainian capture.
These suicides, the US said, were “likely out of fear of reprisal against their families in North Korea in the event that they’re captured.”
In the two years since its formation, Ukraine’s 13th National Guard Brigade – called “Khartiya” – has gained a reputation not only for prowess in battle but also for its culture of respect and innovative approach to technology.
Khartiya helped to halt Russian forces who launched a surprise incursion last May that threatened to overwhelm Kharkiv, from where many of its original members come.
The brigade was deployed to confront the Russian incursion around the village of Lyptsi, north of Ukraine’s second-largest city, last June; the forested area has since been a pivotal battleground.
In the forests near Kharkiv, Askold Krushelnycky speaks to soldiers spending Christmas fighting a hi-tech battle against Vladimir Putin’s forces
Ukraine’s deliveries of drones to its military units increased 19-fold in 2024 following the creation of the Unmanned Systems Forces, Kyiv’s military chief has announced.
Speaking after an end of year meeting, General Oleksandr Syrskyi described the increase use of drones as an “extremely important component, necessary in the conditions of modern technological warfare”.
“Compared to last year, the volume of deliveries of unmanned systems to our units increased 19 times,” he said. “The number of enemy targets hit and destroyed increased 3.7 times.”
You can read his full statement below.
Satellite imagery has shown the construction of a Russian drone base that Ukraine says it significantly damaged.
Earlier, we reported that Ukraine’s General Staff said they had hit this Russian drone base in the Oryol region to the north of Kursk, during a Boxing Day operation.
Images showing the aftermath of the attack are yet to be published.
The British Ministry of Defence suggests that Russia appears to be stockpiling missiles to launch “larger, less frequent strike wave” against Ukraine.
You can read their latest update below.
Ukrainian president Voldoymyr Zelensky has accused Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico of “opening up a second energy front” against Ukraine on behalf of Vladimir Putin.
“It appears that Putin gave Fico the order to open the second energy front against Ukraine at the expense of the Slovak people’s interests,” he wrote.
“Fico’s threats to cut off Ukraine’s emergency power supply this winter while Russia attacks our power plants and energy grid can only be explained by this.”
Mr Zelensky’s comments follow a threat from Mr Fico to stop the supply of electricity to Ukraine if the Ukrainian president went through with a plan to end the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine by 1 January next year, despite this date being the end of the current contract.
Mr Zelensky says Russia is using the profits of this gas sale to continue its invasion of Ukraine. Mr Fico says the end of the Russian gas transit will drive up costs for the European Union and hit the bloc’s competitiveness.
Earlier this month, Mr Fico visited Mr Putin in Moscow, becoming one of only a handful of European leader to do so since the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The visit prompted widespread criticism among other European states, who have largely cut all ties with Russia.
The Ukrainian area of Pokrovsk has been cut off from power after repeated Russian attacks, the local administration has reported.
The city of Pokrovsk is a linchpin of the defence of the wider Donetsk region and its capture has been a primary objective of the advancing Russian forces for months.
Recently, Vladimir Putin’s troops have advanced within a few miles of the city’s outskirts.
The local administration said they do not know when the power supply will be restored. Over the past three days, the city has been repeatedly hit by Russian drones and shells.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte says the military alliance will step up patrols in the Baltic Sea area as Finnish investigators work to establish whether a ship linked to Russia sabotaged undersea cables there this week
Ukraine says it has destroyed a warehouse for the storage, maintenance and repair of “Shaheed” drones in the Russian region of Oryol
Ukraine’s general staff of the military said a Boxing Day operation successfully targeted a warehouse just north of the border region of Kursk.
“The operation significantly reduced the enemy’s potential to conduct airstrikes with strike UAVs [Unmanned Aerial Vehicles] on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure,” they wrote on Facebook.
The Independent was unable to verify this.
Volodymyr Zelensky has urged China to put pressure on North Korea if it “is sincere in its statements that the war should not expand.” In an address on Friday, 27 December, the Ukrainian president said North Korean troops deployed in Russia’s Kursk region are “suffering many losses.” “They are doing everything to make it impossible for us to capture Koreans – they are being killed by their own people… And the Russians send them to the frontlines so that they have minimal defence,” he added.
Ukraine’s special operations forces say they have recovered the diary of a North Korean soldier killed while fighting in the Russian region of Kursk.
You can read one of the translated diary entries below.
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