Russia-Ukraine war live: North Korea preparing to send more troops to Russia, says South Korea

AFP have more detail on Volodymyr Zelenksyy’s criticism of Slovakia’s Robert Fico, see post at 12.21GMT.

Zelenskyy on Monday accused Fico of wanting to “help” President Vladimir Putin by continuing to import Russian gas, reports AFP.

Zelenskyy said EU leaders had observed that Fico, who visited Moscow on Sunday, opposes reducing energy dependence on Russia “implying that he wants to help Putin earn money to fund the war and weaken Europe”.

“We believe that such assistance to Putin is immoral,” he wrote on X.

Slovakia relies heavily on Russian gas and has raised concerns about the prospect of losing supplies as a contract for gas transit through Ukraine expires on 31 December.

Ukraine has made it clear it will not renew the contract with Russia.

Fico is one of the few European leaders Putin has stayed friendly with Moscow since the 2022 eruption of hostilities with Ukraine.

The visit by Fico, whose country is a NATO and European Union member, had not been previously announced.

• South Korea’s military said on Monday that it has detected signs of North Korea preparing to send more troops and weapons, including suicide drones, to Russia to support its war against Ukraine. North Korea has already provided 240mm multiple rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled howitzers, Reuters reported, and was seen preparing to produce more suicide drones to be shipped to Russia after leader Kim Jong-un guided a test last month, according to Seoul’s joint chiefs of staff (JCS).

• More than 1,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded since they were sent to fight alongside Russian troops in Ukraine, according to South Korean military officials. In a statement released on Monday, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said: “We assess that North Korean troops, who have recently engaged in combat with Ukrainian forces, have suffered around 1,100 casualties.”

• Ukraine’s air force said on Monday it had shot down 47 out of 72 Russia-launched drones across the country, while 25 more failed to reach targets. In a statement on Telegram, it said that the military repelled attacks in nine regions, including the Kyiv region, surrounding Ukraine’s capital.

• Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday said Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico’s dependency on Moscow and unwillingness to replace Russian gas was a “big security issue” for Europe.

• Keir Starmer spoke to Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday morning and the UK and Ukrainian leaders agreed on “the importance of refining” the UK’s training offer for Ukrainian armed forces to “further bolster Ukraine’s ability on the battlefield”. According to a readout of the call issued by Number 10 on Monday, during the call “President Zelenskyy reflected on the situation on the frontline in Ukraine and the need to ensure Ukraine could degrade Russian forces for the long haul.

• Switzerland adopted the latest EU sanctions package on Russia and Belarus, the government said on Monday. The move came one week after the European Union targeted Moscow’s vessels and Chinese entities found to have traded with the Russian military. The Swiss government listed 54 persons and 30 companies and organisations, freezing their assets as of 24 December, and banned 52 ships from providing services.

• The situation with European countries that buy Russian gas is very complicated and requires increased attention, the Kremlin said on Monday after talks the previous day between President Vladimir Putin and Slovak prime minister Robert Fico. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he could not provide more details about the talks, which also touched on bilateral relations and the Ukraine war.

• Russia has captured two more villages in east Ukraine, the latest territorial gains for Moscow’s advancing army. The defence ministry said on Telegram on Sunday that its troops had “liberated” the villages of Lozova in the north-eastern Kharkiv region and Krasnoye – called Sontsivka in Ukraine.

• Zelenskyy told Ukraine’s diplomats on Sunday that the country will have to fight to persuade allies to allow it to take up Nato membership, but has described the goal as “achievable” as it searches for security guarantees to protect it from Russia.

• Nato secretary general Mark Rutte said he considered the sometimes harsh criticism of German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to be unjustified, news wire DPA reported. Although Germany has been a vital ally of Ukraine, its hesitation in providing long-range Taurus cruise missiles has been a source of frustration in Kyiv, which is battling a foe armed with a powerful array of long-range weaponry.

• Russian forces executed five Ukrainian prisoners of war, Ukraine’s parliamentary commissioner for human rights, Dmytro Lubinets, claimed on Sunday. Russian troops shot the five unarmed soldiers after capturing them, Lubinets alleged on Telegram, without providing more details.

• A video purporting to show the Russian capture of an Australian man fighting for Ukraine on the war’s eastern front has prompted urgent inquiries by Australia’s government. The man, who identified himself as Oscar Jenkins, is struck several times and questioned roughly in Russian in the video, which is circulating on Telegram.

• Ukrainian drones struck a major Russian fuel depot for the second time in just over a week on Sunday, according to a senior Russian regional official, as part of a “massive” cross-border attack on fuel and energy facilities that Kyiv says supply Moscow’s military.

Sir Keir Starmer spoke to Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday morning and the UK and Ukrainian leaders agreed on “the importance of refining” the UK’s training offer for Ukrainian armed forces to “further bolster Ukraine’s ability on the battlefield”.

According to a readout of the call issued by Number 10 on Monday, during the call “President Zelenskyy reflected on the situation on the frontline in Ukraine and the need to ensure Ukraine could degrade Russian forces for the long haul.

“What happens in Ukraine in the coming weeks and months matters to Europe and Nato, and it was vital President Putin’s ambitions fail in Ukraine, the leaders agreed.”

The readout added: “The leaders discussed Operation Interflex, the UK-led training mission for Ukrainian recruits, and agreed on the importance of refining its offer to further bolster Ukraine’s ability on the battlefield.”

More than 1,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded since they were sent to fight alongside Russian troops in Ukraine, according to South Korean military officials.

In a statement released on Monday, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said: “We assess that North Korean troops, who have recently engaged in combat with Ukrainian forces, have suffered around 1,100 casualties.”

The JCS did not say how many troops had been killed in action, but the claims underline the risks posed to the North’s untested armed forces, amid reports that the regime is poised to send further reinforcements to Ukraine.

Last week South Korea’s spy agency claimed that at least 100 North Korean troops had died in the conflict since being sent into combat this month.

The high number of casualties could be attributed to the “unfamiliar battlefield environment, where North Korean forces are being used as expendable frontline assault units, and their lack of capability to counter drone attacks”, Lee Seong-kweun, a South Korean MP, told reporters after meeting intelligence officials.

Ukraine’s air force said on Monday it had shot down 47 out of 72 Russia-launched drones across the country, while 25 more failed to reach targets.

In a statement on Telegram, it said that the military repelled attacks in nine regions, including the Kyiv region, surrounding Ukraine’s capital.

According to the air force, unidentified private entities and houses were damaged in the Kyiv region and the western region of Khmelnytskyi.

One person was injured in the Khmelnytskyi region, and a power line was damaged in the Kyiv region, according to local authorities.

Hello and welcome to the Ukraine live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest from the conflict.

We start with news that South Korea’s military said on Monday that it has detected signs of North Korea preparing to send more troops and weapons, including suicide drones, to Russia to support its war against Ukraine.

North Korea has already provided 240mm multiple rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled howitzers, Reuters reported, and was seen preparing to produce more suicide drones to be shipped to Russia after leader Kim Jong-un guided a test last month, according to Seoul’s joint chiefs of staff (JCS).

“Suicide drones are one of the tasks that Kim Jong-un has focused on,” a JCS official said, adding that the North had expressed its intention to give them to Russia.

Such drones have been widely used in the Ukraine war, and Kim ordered a mass production of the aerial weapons and an update of military theory and education, citing intensifying global competition, state media reported.

Seoul, Washington and Kyiv have said there are about 12,000 North Korean troops in Russia. The JCS said at least 1,100 of them had been killed or wounded, in line with last week’s briefing by South Korea’s spy agency which reported some 100 deaths with another 1,000 wounded in the Kursk region.

In other news …

• Russian president, Vladimir Putin met the Slovakian prime minister, Robert Fico, in the Kremlin on Sunday, a rare visit by a European Union leader to Moscow, as a contract allowing for Russian gas to transit through Ukraine nears expiry.

• Russia has captured two more villages in east Ukraine, the latest territorial gains for Moscow’s advancing army. The defence ministry said on Telegram on Sunday that its troops had “liberated” the villages of Lozova in the north-eastern Kharkiv region and Krasnoye – called Sontsivka in Ukraine.

• Zelenskyy told Ukraine’s diplomats on Sunday that the country will have to fight to persuade allies to allow it to take up Nato membership, but has described the goal as “achievable” as it searches for security guarantees to protect it from Russia.

• Nato secretary general Mark Rutte said he considered the sometimes harsh criticism of German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to be unjustified, news wire DPA reported. Although Germany has been a vital ally of Ukraine, its hesitation in providing long-range Taurus cruise missiles has been a source of frustration in Kyiv, which is battling a foe armed with a powerful array of long-range weaponry.

• Russian forces executed five Ukrainian prisoners of war, Ukraine’s parliamentary commissioner for human rights, Dmytro Lubinets, claimed on Sunday. Russian troops shot the five unarmed soldiers after capturing them, Lubinets alleged on Telegram, without providing more details.

• A video purporting to show the Russian capture of an Australian man fighting for Ukraine on the war’s eastern front has prompted urgent inquiries by Australia’s government. The man, who identified himself as Oscar Jenkins, is struck several times and questioned roughly in Russian in the video, which is circulating on Telegram.

• Ukrainian drones struck a major Russian fuel depot for the second time in just over a week on Sunday, according to a senior Russian regional official, as part of a “massive” cross-border attack on fuel and energy facilities that Kyiv says supply Moscow’s military.