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Zelensky seeks support from international community to force Putin to sit down at the negotiating table
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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and French leader Emmanuel Macron have discussed the possibility of France sending troops to Ukraine.
Mr Macron became the first European leader to discuss the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine earlier this year.
“We continued working on President Macron’s initiative regarding the presence of forces in Ukraine that could contribute to stabilising the path to peace,” Mr Zelensky said.
It comes as South Korea suggested there were indications that North Korea is preparing to send more troops to Russia. Around 1,00 have been killed while fighting in Russia, according to South Korean intelligence, with roughly 1,000 more injured.
Member of the South Korean parliament Lee Seong-kweun said there was also intelligence that North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong Un was overseeing the training.
Ukraine and its allies estimate that North Korea has deployed between 10,000 and 12,000 troops so far to aid Russia’s war effort. The Pentagon said the soldiers were largely deployed to Russia’s Kursk region, where Moscow’s forces were battling a Ukrainian ground incursion since August.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that relations between Russia and China had reached a level never seen before, lauding their positive nature.
Russia and China were coordinating their actions on the international stage and would continue to do so, he added.
The training doesn’t stop at the gun range
A fire burned at a Russian oil refinery in the Rostov region, video posted on Thursday, 19 December shows. Local governor Yuri Slyusar said Russian air defence systems repelled a Ukrainian attack in which 10 missiles were fired at the Rostov region. Footage posted on social media showed the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery engulfed in flames. It was the second time in six months that the facility had been hit. Slyusar said emergency crews were dispatched to the fire and details on casualties were being clarified.
President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russian forces were moving towards achieving their primary goals on the battlefield in Ukraine and touted what he said was the invincibility of Russia’s new hypersonic missile.
Fielding questions on state TV during his annual question and answer session with Russians, Putin said Moscow’s forces were advancing along the whole of the battle front.
“I must say that the situation is changing dramatically… There is movement along the entire front line. Every day,” he said.
Western and Russian military analysts say Russia is advancing in eastern Ukraine at the fastest pace since 2022, taking village after village and threatening strategically important cities such as Pokrovsk, a major road and rail hub. Those gains, however, have been measured in just tens of miles worth of advance.
“Our fighters are reclaiming territory by the square kilometre every day,” Putin said.
He said the fighting was complex, so it was “difficult and pointless to guess what lies ahead… (but) we are moving, as you said, towards solving our primary tasks, which we outlined at the beginning of the special military operation.”
“Everyone is fighting, literally heroically. And they are fighting right now. Let us wish them all…good luck, victory and to return home,” he said.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has announced he cannot say when his forces will retake the border region of Kursk partially controlled by Ukraine.
“We will absolutely kick them out. Absolutely. It can’t be any other way. But the question of a specific date, I’m sorry, I cannot say right now,” he said.
Pyongyang claimed on Thursday that its alliance with Russia was ‘normal’ and ‘very effective’, despite international alarm about the deployment of North Korean troops to the war in Ukraine
Watch live as Russian president Vladimir Putin takes calls from Russian people during an end-of-year phone-in on Thursday, 19 December, during the third winter of his Ukraine invasion.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said unity between the US and European Union is needed to achieve peace in Ukraine as he arrived at the European Council summit in Brussels on Thursday.
Protection of Ukraine‘s energy sector, an increase in Ukraine‘s arms production and urgent help for the education system will be on the agenda during the visit, Mr Zelensky added.
Europe should focus its efforts on supporting Ukraine and not engage in premature calls for peace negotiations, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Friday.
“We have to talk how we can support Ukraine more. Any push for negotiations too soon will actually be a bad deal for Ukraine,” Kallas said before a summit of EU leaders in Brussels.
Europe should focus its efforts on supporting Ukraine and not engage in premature calls for peace negotiations, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Friday.
“We have to talk how we can support Ukraine more. Any push for negotiations too soon will actually be a bad deal for Ukraine,” Kallas said before a summit of EU leaders in Brussels.
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