{"id":124557,"date":"2025-01-30T01:34:45","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T01:34:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-russia-war-live-putin-rejects-zelensky-talks-as-north-korean-cannon-deployed-the-independent\/"},"modified":"2025-01-30T01:34:45","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T01:34:45","slug":"ukraine-russia-war-live-putin-rejects-zelensky-talks-as-north-korean-cannon-deployed-the-independent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-russia-war-live-putin-rejects-zelensky-talks-as-north-korean-cannon-deployed-the-independent\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine-Russia war live: Putin rejects Zelensky talks as North Korean cannon deployed – The Independent"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Vladimir Putin is \u2018afraid of strong leaders\u2019, says Volodymyr Zelensky
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Russian president Vladimir Putin<\/a> has refused to directly engage with his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky<\/a> in any upcoming talks to end the war in Ukraine.
Mr Putin, who has spent 25 years in power in Russia, claimed to take issue with the fact that Mr Zelensky has been unable to hold elections since Moscow\u2019s full-scale invasion.
In response, Mr Zelensky said the Russian leader\u2019s statements showed he was afraid of talks and sought to keep the conflict going indefinitely.
On the war front, more than a hundred drones targeted Russian oil facilities, including a nuclear power plant, in a major Ukrainian attack this morning, Russian officials said. The Russian defence ministry said that 104 drones were involved in raids across western Russia, 11 of which were destroyed over the Smolensk region.
This comes as North Korea<\/a> is set to send more than 100 artillery systems to be used against Ukraine\u2019s forces in the war, officials in Kyiv said.
A close ally of Russia, North Korea is about to double the number of artillery systems it has deployed to Russia\u2019s Kursk<\/a> region, said Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine\u2019s military intelligence chief.
Donald Trump has been critical of US support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, and has said he could end the war in 24 hours if elected \u2013 although advisers concede it will likely take months if not longer.
He has suggested Ukraine may have to yield some of its territory if a peace deal is to be struck.
Trump and his pick for national security adviser, US Representative Michael Waltz, have criticised the Biden administration\u2019s decision in November to allow Ukraine to use US-provided missiles to strike within Russian territory.
Trump has also said that under his presidency the US would fundamentally rethink Nato\u2019s purpose and Nato\u2019s mission.
While there is no fully fleshed-out Trump peace plan, most of his key aides favor taking NATO membership off the table for Ukraine as part of any peace agreement, at least for the foreseeable future. They also broadly support freezing the battle lines at their prevailing location.
Desperate Ukrainian families are resorting to illegal routes and \u201crogue advisers\u201d to bring their children to Britain after \u201ccatastrophic\u201d changes to the Homes for Ukraine scheme, ministers have been told.
The government, which has vowed \u201cironclad\u201d support for Ukrainians, has been warned repeatedly<\/a> since taking office that changes to the Ukrainian sponsorship schemes \u2013 made overnight last February by the Tory administration \u2013 are preventing children<\/a> from joining their parents in the UK.
This has now created the \u201cinevitable\u201d situation in which families are resorting to bringing children to the UK via irregular routes, leaving them at risk of exploitation by criminals and people traffickers, a charity supporting Ukrainians told the home secretary this week.
Speaking to The Independent<\/em>, one Ukrainian mother said she was left with no choice but to bring her children from Ukraine illegally after their carer grandparent fell ill, and urged the government to change course to allow families to reunite in safety.
Read more details in this report:<\/em>
Exclusive: Mother forced to bring children to UK illegally urges Starmer to ensure families can be reunited
Russian prosecutors are seeking to recover some \u00a326m of funds that they say were allocated for the defence of Kursk, but which were stolen instead by corrupt officials.
Ukrainian troops stormed across the border in a surprise attack on 6 August and seized a chunk of territory in Russia\u2019s Kursk region, some of which they still hold in a valuable bargaining chip for Kyiv in any peace talks with Moscow.
A lawsuit filed by Russia\u2019s chief prosecutor\u2019s office orders the head of the Kursk Regional Development Corporation, his deputies and a number of businessmen to repay more than 3.2 billion roubles (\u00a326m) allegedly embezzled from the regional defence budget, state news agency RIA reported.
In the two years prior to Ukraine\u2018s attack, the governor in charge of Kursk at the time had repeatedly told the public that Russia had boosted its fortifications along the region\u2019s 150-mile border with Ukraine.
But in the autumn of 2023, Ukraine\u2018s National Resistance Center, created by the special operations forces, said in an online post that reconnaissance showed \u201calmost all the strongholds are deserted of personnel and equipment\u201d along the border with Kursk. Corruption was a factor, it said.
Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a \u201ccomprehensive strategic partnership\u201d pact in Pyongyang on 19 June 2024, including a mutual defence clause in case of aggression against either country.
Mr Kim expressed \u201cunconditional support\u201d for \u201call of Russia\u2019s policies\u201d, including \u201ca full support and firm alliance\u201d for Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine. Mr Putin has said Russia would help North Korea build satellites.
The US and South Korea say North Korea has shipped ballistic missiles, anti-tank rockets and millions of rounds of ammunition for Russia to use in the war. Moscow and Pyongyang have denied weapons transfers.
Ukraine, South Korea and the US say Kim has sent more than 11,000 troops to fight for Russia in its western Kursk region, part of which has been held by Ukraine since August. Ukraine says many North Korean soldiers have been killed and wounded.
A US Air Force pilot was reported to be safe after a single-seat F-35 fighter jet crashed on Tuesday at a base in Alaska.
The F-35 fighter jet crashed Tuesday at a U.S. Air Force base in Alaska
The European Commission did not propose a ban on Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) in its latest package of sanctions because member states raised concerns about needing to first secure alternative fuels, diplomats have told Reuters.
\u201cFirst you have to have a deal because otherwise you will be left without gas from Russia and without the US,\u201d one of the diplomats said.
Moscow had been using northern European ports to do ship-to-ship transfers of LNG for onward journeys to Asia. But a ban announced by the EU last June has seen more Russian LNG staying in Europe, prompting some member states to push for tighter rules and an all-out ban.
However, the Commission did not propose tougher measures after pushback from some member states, and EU sources have told Reuters that the cold winter weather, gas stocks drawdown and the timing of the upcoming German election put a further dampener on the idea.
\u201cThere was never an original measure, so I don\u2019t think it\u2019s useful to talk about it in terms of watering down,\u201d one European diplomat told Reuters.
\u201cThe general idea was floated by the Commission in confessionals in order to test the waters … Apparently one or more member [state] signalled enough opposition for the Commission not to deem it opportune to propose such a measure now.\u201d
Western officials have urged Ukraine to resolve an escalating rift between its defence minister and procurement, warning that it could jeopardise trust in the country and disrupt weapons supplies.
The row began last week when the Defence Procurement Agency\u2019s board unanimously voted to extend director Maryna Bezrukova\u2019s contract for another year. However, defence minister Rustem Umerov overruled the decision, accusing her of poor performance and failing to deliver arms to frontline troops.
The decision provoked an outcry from politicians and anti-corruption watchdogs who alleged that Mr Umerov\u2019s move to dismiss Ms Bezrukova was illegal under Ukrainian law.
In a statement on Monday, G7 ambassadors urged Kyiv to resolve the situation \u201cexpeditiously and focus on keeping defence procurement going\u201d, saying: \u201cConsistency with good governance principles and Nato recommendations is important to maintain the trust of the public and international partners.\u201d
France has invited foreign ministers from Ukraine, the UK, Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain and the European Union, as well as new US secretary of state Marco Rubio, to discuss the war in Ukraine on 12 February, diplomats have told Reuters.
A woman accused of spying for Russia has told jurors she began to raise questions while on her way to a US Army base believed to have been used to train Ukrainian soldiers on the Patriot missile system.
Bulgarians Katrin Ivanova, 33, Vanya Gaberova, 30, and Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, 39, were allegedly part of a group which carried out surveillance on places and people of interest to the Russian state between August 30 2020 and February 8 2023.
Ivanova has claimed she was deceived, betrayed and controlled by her long-term partner Biser Dzhambazov, 43, who has admitted being in on the plot.
In late 2022, she began questioning what she was doing for the first time on the way to Patch Barracks in Stuttgart, southern Germany, the defendant said.
Emily Pennink <\/em><\/strong>reports:<\/em>
Katrin Ivanova denied being\u00a0\u2018a stupid person\u2019, but said she was under the \u2018control\u2019 of her partner her at the time.
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
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