Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 10-24-2024

Ukraine said the number of deployed North Koreans in Russia was about “12,000” troops, without specifying how many of them were in the Kursk region.

Ukraine said Thursday that North Korean troops have arrived in the “combat zone” in Russia’s Kursk border region, where Moscow has struggled to push back Ukrainian forces for months.

North Korea – with whom Russia signed a mutual defense pact – is already widely believed to be arming Moscow for its invasion but troops on the ground would mark a new escalation in the conflict. 

Ukraine dismissed the BRICS summit in Russia, saying it demonstrates Moscow’s failure to export “its neo-imperialist views”

The declaration was made on the second day of the 16th BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan.

Moscow has trumpeted the summit as evidence that the West had failed to isolate Russia over its war against Ukraine given that it attracted heavyweights Xi Jinping, the President of China, and Narendra Modi, India’s Prime Minister, along with a clutch of leaders from other BRICS members.

Ukraine can win, and a key element of that is to fill in a new brigade, already badly needed, who can help to defend the nation from Russia’s brutal assault on civilization

While I was convalescing from losing my left hand and most of my left forearm – the result of a massive FPV and mortar barrage that came down on the Armed Forces of Ukraine’s International Legion squad that I was leading – I read with great interest that the Ukrainian Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, passed Law 12023, allowing foreigners to become officers in the Ukrainian military.

However, one aspect of the law troubled me: Putting foreigners in charge of existing Ukrainian units makes no sense.

Though North Korean troops may soon bolster Russian forces in Kursk, analysts doubt their impact as Moscow faces manpower shortages and high casualties.

Russian President Vladimir Putin hopes to send North Korean troops to help reclaim parts of the country’s Kursk region under Ukrainian control, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Thursday.

North Korea would send 12,000 soldiers to Russia to assist in reclaiming sections of the Kursk region that Ukrainian forces have controlled since August. However, Ukrainian analysts stated that these forces were too small to dramatically change the course of the war, according to the FT. 

Out of the $50 billion Ukraine is expecting, the US will provide $20 billion, the EU’s contribution is up to $35 billion, the UK $3 billion, while Japan and Canada have yet to announce their decisions

The US agreed to provide $20 billion for Ukraine as a part of the G7 Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration for Ukraine (ERA), fulfilling its promise to commit to Ukraine's financing from immobilized sovereign Russian assets of $280 billion. 

The G7 agreed to provide Ukraine with a $50 billion loan backed by interest profits generated from Russian assets. 

Malicious cyber groups affiliated with Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) have been targeting various institutions by exploiting system vulnerabilities, said multiple Western agencies.

Intelligence agencies in the US and UK have issued a joint statement warning organizations worldwide – both governmental and private – of cyber threats posed by hacking groups affiliated with Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).

The joint cybersecurity advisory, published on Oct. 10, said the malicious groups are “highly capable of and interested in exploiting software vulnerabilities for initial access” of different organizations, where they can then further their operations by spreading through connected networks.

The White House position only makes sense if you don’t look at where the Russians are, how the Ukrainians have been hitting them, and what an ATACMS missile can do.

In a Wednesday interview with Fox News, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin repeated a longstanding White House mantra that there is no pressing need for Washington to permit Kyiv to use US-made ATACMS missiles to strike airfields deep inside Russia. Kyiv wants to hit Russian bases of bombers using long-range glide bombs to hit Ukrainian homes and businesses from outside the range of its air defenses.

“Isn't this just extending the war by not giving them those permissions?” Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin asked Austin, during a Rome, Italy visit.

Russian forces seized the National Guardsmen during an assault on their position near Selydov, before filming the interrogation of the wounded, unarmed soldiers and then executing them.

Russian troops executed four captured servicemen of Ukraine’s National Guard near Selydove in the Donetsk region, according to a report from Kyiv’s Prosecutor General’s Office.

On Oct. 6, the four soldiers were manning defensive positions in the Selydove area when, at around 1:00 p.m. Russian forces launched an assault during which the National Guardsmen were seized.

The world in focus, as seen by a Canadian leading global affairs analyst, writer and speaker, in his review of international media.

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has arrived in Russia to attend the BRICS summit, where he’s due to meet President Vladimir Putin today. Russia is hosting the three-day summit in Kazan, where the speaker of the regional legislative assembly greeted Guterres after his plane landed at the city’s airport. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry slammed the visit, saying the UN chief made the “wrong choice that does not advance the cause of peace” after earlier rejecting an invitation to attend Kyiv’s peace summit in Switzerland. Guterres is expected to deliver a speech at the BRICS summit, his deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters Tuesday. He said the UN chief will “reaffirm his well-known positions on the war in Ukraine and the conditions for just peace based on the UN Charter.”

The U.S. government has confirmed that some 3000 North Korean soldiers have been deployed to Russia. However it’s not clear whether they’ll be engaged in direct combat with Ukraine. Also not clear is what Russia is offering Pyongyang in return for the military support. Separately, the FT reported that the troops sent to Russia are from North Korea’s Eleventh Army, an elite unit known as the “Storm Corps”, according to South Korea’s National Intelligence Service. Other outlets reported that once they’d arrived in Vladivostok by ship, Pyongyang’s troops were farmed out to multiple bases in the Russian Far East

Reports that seven NATO countries, the US, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, Belgium, Slovenia, and Spain, currently do not support inviting Ukraine to the Alliance are denied by Kyiv.

Politico, citing unnamed US officials and NATO sources reports that at least seven NATO countries, including the US and Germany, are opposing Ukraine’s invitation to the Alliance at the moment. It says Hungary, Slovakia, Belgium, Slovenia, and Spain are also resisting.

Serhiy Nykyforov, a spokesperson for the President of Ukraine, portrays this information as inaccurate, saying, “These rumors benefit those who seek to create a false impression that Ukraine’s membership lacks broad support among NATO members,” as reported by RBС-Ukraine.

Plans to produce the drones in Ukraine have been in discussion since early 2022, though details on the latest agreement remain undisclosed and it’s unclear how far the plans have progressed.

Turkish drone manufacturer Baykar signed an agreement with Ukraine at Istanbul’s Saha Expo Defence & Aerospace Exhibition on Wednesday. Neither disclosed the details of the agreement.  

Baykar is the manufacturer of the Bayraktar drones systems that were operated extensively by Kyiv in the early days of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Windfall profits from frozen Russian state assets will be used to repay the loan, but it remains unclear how much the EU will actually disburse and allow Ukraine to spend on defense.

The European Parliament voted for an extraordinary loan of up to €35 billion ($37.84 billion) to Ukraine, backed by revenues generated from $280 billion worth of frozen Russian assets. 

“With 518 votes in favor, 56 against and 61 abstentions, Parliament endorsed the new macro-financial assistance (MFA) to help Ukraine against Russia’s brutal war of aggression,” the EU Parliament press release stated. 

Seoul's spy agency says thousands of North Korean soldiers are currently training in Russia and are likely to deploy to the front lines in Ukraine soon, with thousands more to be sent by December.

Russia moved to ratify a key defence pact with North Korea on Thursday, while South Korea warned it wound not "sit idle" if Pyongyang deployed thousands of troops to help Moscow fight Ukraine.

Seoul's spy agency says thousands of North Korean soldiers are currently training in Russia and are likely to deploy to the front lines in Ukraine soon, with thousands more to be sent by December.

Europe's press debates whether Brics can be seen as a counterweight to the "global West" and what UN Secretary General Guterres' participation in the meeting in Kazan could mean.

Representatives of the nine members of the Brics group and other states interested in membership will convene at a summit in the Russian city of Kazan until Thursday. The group stated goal is to create a multipolar world order. Europe's press debates whether Brics can be seen as a counterweight to the "global West" and what UN Secretary General Guterres' participation in the meeting in Kazan could mean.

The UN is discrediting itself

After Russian troops leveled much of Ukraine’s formerly besieged Mariupol, what remained of the industrial city are now war trophies for Chechen groups affiliated with the enclave’s elites.

What remained of the steel plants in Ukraine’s Mariupol are now war trophies for Chechen figures affiliated with the enclave’s strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.

While Azovstal, one of the plants that saw Ukrainian troops’ defiant last stand before Mariupol was captured by Russia, was largely destroyed, its crosstown peer, the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works, remains largely intact and has been a treasure trove of war trophies, noted the WSJ. Taxes from both plants once supplied more than a third of the city’s budget.

Ukraine’s accession to the EU needs to be complemented by the security alliance.

As President Volodymyr Zelensky seeks support for his “victory plan,” there’s a growing understanding in Western capitals that our Ukraine policy needs to evolve. The crucial next move is for Washington to commit to NATO membership for Ukraine, with the alliance’s Article 5 mutual defense provisions covering those parts of the country that Kyiv controls. 

This is known in shorthand as the “West German” solution, so it’s worth spelling out similarities and differences with Germany’s position after 1945.

Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.

• During September 2024 Russia launched over 1,300One Way Attack Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (OWA-UAVs) into Ukraine. This represents the highest number of OWA-UAVs launched in a month since the start of the conflict. Based on current rates it is almost certain that Russia will surpass that number in October 2024.
• It is unclear whether Russia can sustain this rate through the remainder of 2024. However, Russia is almost certainly expanding its capacity to conduct large scale OWA-UAV attacks against Ukraine, supplementing Iranian supply with increasing domestic production.
• Russia utilises its OWA UAVs against a multitude of targets, particularly energy infrastructure, given their ability to strike deep into Ukrainian territory, maintaining pressure on the Ukrainian Air Defence system.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry said meeting Putin now “does not advance the cause of peace” and “damages the UN’s reputation.”

Vladimir Putin will meet UN chief Antonio Guterres for the first time in over two years on Thursday, as the Russian president faces calls from his BRICS allies to end the war in Ukraine.

The meeting takes place on the final day of the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan, a forum Moscow hopes will help forge a united front of emerging economies against the West.

The UK will fulfill its contribution to the $50 billion loan announced at the G7 Leaders’ Summit in June, money which can be spent for military purposes.

Britain announced it contributed £2.26 billion (almost $3 billion) to the G7 Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) Loans to Ukraine scheme, in which $50 billion from G7 countries will be delivered to Ukraine and repaid to the lenders from profits on immobilized Russian sovereign assets. 

“Today the UK has announced its contribution to the scheme and will introduce domestic legislation in the coming weeks to enable the transfer of the new funds to Ukraine as quickly as possible,” the press release said. 

Now, North Korea is in the mix, and South Korea is its sworn enemy. Both are escalating

Putin’s war widens significantly now that North Korea has put boots on the ground in Ukraine. This is the first time another foreign government has joined Russia’s attempt to conquer its former colony, and it means that two nations have now invaded Ukraine.

Reports are that Korean military advisors have been in Ukraine for months involved in the deployment of their missiles; some have died in bombing raids, and another 10,000 ground troops are rumored to be training in Russia’s Far East to fight in Ukraine.

Russia and North Korea have boosted their political and military alliance amid the Ukraine war, with Pyongyang facing long-standing accusations of supplying arms to Moscow's army.

At least 3,000 North Korean soldiers have been sent to Russia and are training there, the United States said Wednesday, warning that they would become legitimate targets for Kyiv if they engage in combat in Ukraine.

Russia and North Korea have boosted their political and military alliance amid the Ukraine war, with Pyongyang facing long-standing accusations of supplying arms to Moscow's army.

Eight Ukrainian military pilots graduated from the UK’s flying training program on Tuesday bringing the number of fledgling aviators trained by the RAF to 200.

UK support for Ukraine reached a significant milestone on Tuesday when the Royal Air Force (RAF) Elementary Flying Training (EFT) program saw the 200th pilot having completed the training.

In a graduation ceremony attended by the UK’s Parliamentary Armed Forces Under-Secretary, Luke Pollard, and Ukraine’s Ambassador to Britain Gen. Valerii Zaluzhny the latest group of pilots were deemed ready to move on to the next phase of training.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• The adoption of the Kazan Declaration on the second day of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan on October 23 demonstrated that Russia has not yet secured the international support nor created the alternative security structure that the Kremlin desires.
• People’s Republic of China (PRC) President Xi Jinping reiterated the PRC’s longstanding position calling for de-escalation in Russia’s war in Ukraine and discouraged the involvement of third parties in the war amid reports of Russia preparing to deploy North Korean troops to Ukraine.
• Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian reiterated Iran’s intentions to increase ties with Russia and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) at the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, on October 23.
• Russian forces have made significant tactical advances into and around Selydove in recent days, but the Russian military command's apparent focus on securing Selydove has come at the expense of Russian forces' ability to sustain a meaningful offensive drive directly on Pokrovsk — Russia's self-defined operational objective on this sector of the front.
• The Pentagon and White House confirmed the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia.
• Russia and Belarus announced plans to conduct the “Zapad-2025” command staff exercise on an unspecified date in 2025 against the backdrop of deepening Russian-Belarusian security integration within the Union State framework.
• Ukrainian and Russian forces recently advanced in Kursk Oblast.
• Russian forces recently advanced near Kupyansk, Pokrovsk, and Vuhledar.
• The Russian military is reportedly coercing Russian conscripts into contract service in the Russian military by issuing enlistment bonuses to conscripts who never signed military service contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD).