Latest Ukraine Russia war: Some North Koreans ‘already in Ukraine’ as Kiev withdraws 160,000 troops

Ukrainian authorities said in a statement this morning that at least nine people, including an 11-year-old girl, were injured and many apartments were set on fire after the Russian drone attack on Kiev.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said debris falling from a destroyed drone caused a fire in a multi-storey apartment building in the Solomianskyi district in western Kiev.

“So far, nine people have been injured,” Mr. Klitschko said. “All of them were treated by medical teams.”

The Kyiv military administration published a photo of flames breaking out in an apartment. It was also stated that a fire broke out in a multi-storey administrative building in the Solomianskyi district.

Reuters witnesses heard a series of explosions in Kiev that suggested air defense units were in action.

Kiev, the surrounding region and almost the entire eastern half of Ukraine were under air raid warnings from 01.30 GMT.

Nearly 200 defectors from North Korea are willing to join Ukraine’s fight against Russia, according to a new report.

“We are all veterans who understand North Korea’s military culture and psychological state better than anyone else,” Ahn Chan-il, 69, told the South China Morning Post. Many members of the defecting group all have several years of military experience.

This comes as the Pentagon estimates 10,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to eastern Russia for training, up from last week’s estimate of 3,000 troops.

The US has confirmed that some North Korean soldiers are in the Russian border region of Kursk, where Ukrainian forces launched a major offensive in August and control hundreds of square kilometers of territory.

South Korean officials have said some of the North Korean troops may have moved to the front line and expressed concern about what Russia could provide Pyongyang in return.

Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said some North Korean soldiers were approaching Ukraine and were thought to be heading towards the Kursk border region. Russian forces are having difficulty repelling the cross-border operation launched by Ukraine on August 6.

This came just hours after NATO secretary general Mark Rutte confirmed the latest reports by Ukrainian intelligence about the deployment of North Korean military units in Kursk, near the Ukrainian border.

Notorious Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has vowed to take revenge for a drone strike that caused a fire at a military training academy in southern Russia.

Ukraine has frequently struck Russia with drones during the war, but Tuesday’s attack appeared to be the first against Chechnya.

“They bit us, we will destroy them,” Kadyrov told reporters in a video published by Russian state news agency RIA. “In the very near future, we will show them a kind of revenge they have never even dreamed of.”

Earlier, Kadyrov wrote on Telegram that the drone attack set fire to the roof of what he said was an empty building at the “university of special forces” in the city of Gudermes. He said there was no loss of life.

Two Western intelligence officials said a number of North Korean soldiers are already in Ukraine, CNN reported.

“It appears that a large number of them are already in operation,” the official said, without providing details about some of the North Korean forces fighting in the Ukraine war. he said.

Officials said they expect the number of North Korean soldiers in Ukraine to increase as they complete training in eastern Russia and await deployment to the war front.

The United States confirmed yesterday that some North Korean soldiers were in the Russian border region of Kursk, where Ukrainian forces launched a major offensive in August and control hundreds of square kilometers of territory.

The Pentagon said several thousand more were heading there.

Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said Russia conducted a training exercise on Tuesday to simulate a “major nuclear strike” in response to a first strike by an enemy.

President Vladimir Putin launched the exercise at a critical juncture in the Ukrainian war. The exercise, which Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said was an orderly and planned event, involved the launch of ballistic and cruise missiles.

The defense ministry said that as part of the exercise, the Yars intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northwestern Russia to the Kura test range in Kamchatka in the far east.

Sineva and Bulava ballistic missiles were fired from submarines in the Barents and Okhotsk Seas. Tu-95MS strategic bombers, which can carry nuclear weapons, launched cruise missiles.

The defense ministry said all missiles reached their targets.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the deployment of North Korean troops to the Ukraine conflict would likely escalate the war being waged by Russia.

These remarks were made yesterday in a telephone conversation with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office.

Trudeau said the war would have a greater impact on the security environment in Europe and the Indo-Pacific, according to Mr. Yoon’s office, and suggested closer cooperation between the two countries on the evolving situation.

“Prime Minister Trudeau said there is an increased likelihood that the Ukraine war will become more violent with the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia, which will have an impact on the overall security of Europe and the Indo-Pacific,” the office said in a statement. The statement was included.

His office said Mr. Yoon said the deployment of North Korean troops in the Ukraine conflict was faster than expected and created a dangerous situation.

Vladimir Putin did not deny that North Korean troops were involved in the war, but said it was up to Russia to decide how it would implement the association agreement that he and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed in June.

The mayor of the Ukrainian capital said that multiple explosions occurred in Kiev earlier today and a fire broke out as a result of a Russian drone attack.

“Emergency services are being dispatched to the area,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

Reuters witnesses heard a series of explosions that suggested air defense units were in action.

More details have been revealed about President Volodymyr Zelensky’s agreement with the South Korean president to step up contacts between their countries at all levels to develop countermeasures and a strategy to respond to North Korea’s intervention in the war in Ukraine.

In a telephone conversation with President Yoon Suk Yeol, Zelensky said the two leaders also agreed to strengthen the exchange of intelligence and expertise.

Zelensky said he shared data that 3,000 North Korean soldiers will be deployed to Russian training sites near the war zone, and their number is expected to rise to about 12,000.

“We agreed to strengthen the exchange of intelligence and expertise, intensify contacts at all levels, especially at the highest level, to develop an action strategy and countermeasures against this escalation and to engage our mutual partners in cooperation,” he said.

Ukraine’s president’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said Tuesday that he discussed the country’s victory plan and North Korea’s involvement in the war with U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

Commenting on his business trip to the USA, he added about X: “Military aid to Ukraine, sanctions against Russia and increasing pressure on Moscow’s allies are vital.”