Latest news on the war in Ukraine: Putin’s threat of North Korean weapons is ‘incredibly worrying’, says the US

Russian air defenses shot down 70 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea and Crimea overnight, the Russian Defense Ministry reported this morning via the RIA news agency.

The ministry also said Russian forces had destroyed six Ukrainian sea drones in the Black Sea.

Ukraine could use US-supplied weapons to attack Russian forces firing on Ukrainian troops anywhere across the Russian border, not just on Russian territory near the Ukrainian region of Kharkiv, the Pentagon said yesterday.

Last month, President Joe Biden tacitly gave Kyiv permission to fire U.S. weapons at military targets in Russia.

However, officials said at the time that Biden’s decision only affected targets inside Russia near the border with the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv.

Pentagon spokesman Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder told reporters that while there had been no change in policy, Ukraine’s use of weapons against Russian troops was not limited to the Russian side near Kharkiv.

“The ability to fire back in the event of fire is at the heart of this policy. As we see Russian forces firing across the border, Ukraine has the ability to fire back at those ground forces using U.S.-supplied munitions,” Ryder said.

“It’s self-defense, so it makes sense that they would be able to do it,” he added.

The trial of 33-year-old US ballerina Ksenia Karelina began today in western Russia. She is accused of treason for transferring only $51.80 to a Ukrainian charity.

The 33-year-old, who originally comes from Yekaterinburg but moved to the United States, transferred money to the Ukrainian foundation Razom for Ukraine on the third day of the war in 2022. When she then visited her family in Russia earlier this year, she was arrested.

The press service of the Sverdlovsk Regional Court reported that Karelina “on her own initiative, in the interests of one of the Ukrainian organizations, transferred funds that were subsequently used to purchase tactical medical items, equipment, weapons and ammunition by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”

Judge Andrei Mineev, who is also hearing the case of imprisoned US journalist Evan Gershkovich, closed the hearing to the press.

Read more about the case here Here.

Volodymyr Zelensky announced a series of measures to protect Ukraine’s energy system, including protecting power plants that come under Russian fire and developing alternative renewable energy sources.

“Life in Ukraine must be preserved and this includes, in particular, energy security,” said the Ukrainian president in his evening video address.

Mr Zelensky outlined plans to minimise the impact of such attacks, including a programme to develop solar power and energy storage facilities and a timeline for developing alternative energy sources for critical infrastructure sites.

The work must be completed before winter and the increased energy demand associated with the change of seasons, he said.

Mr Zelensky said the government would “continue to work on creating new energy production and new decentralized energy capacities.” Plans also call for “the construction of new balanced and agile energy capacities.”

“Under war conditions, this process is a great challenge, but we must implement it, just as we have already implemented many difficult projects,” he said.

And measures to protect existing energy sites are being pushed forward, said Selenskyj.

Russia bombed Ukraine’s energy system during the first winter of the war that began in February 2022 and renewed its attack on energy targets last March, when Ukraine had few Western anti-aircraft missiles left.

According to official figures, drone and missile attacks have crippled half of the country’s energy production capacity since March.

The attacks hit four regions last night and cut off power to more than 218,000 consumers, the Energy Ministry said.

Vladimir Putin’s comments that Russia could potentially supply North Korea with weapons after signing a defense pact with Pyongyang were “incredibly disturbing,” said U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

After a visit to North Korea this week, Putin suggested that such arms deliveries to the isolated nuclear country would be a mirror-image reaction to the West’s rearmament of Ukraine.

He also warned that US ally South Korea would be making a “big mistake” if it decided to supply arms to Ukraine, saying Moscow would respond to such a move in a way that would be painful for Seoul.

“It’s incredibly worrying,” Miller said at a press conference when asked about Putin’s comments about possible arms sales to North Korea.

“This would, of course, destabilize the Korean peninsula and possibly … depending on the type of weapons they supply, violate UN Security Council resolutions that Russia itself has supported.”

The treaty signed by Putin and Kim on Wednesday obliges both sides to provide immediate military assistance to the other in the event of armed aggression against either side.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby called the situation worrisome but not surprising, saying Russia’s need for foreign aid was a sign of desperation.

“We have been talking about this for many months and warning through a number of intelligence briefings that we have released about an escalating defense relationship between these two countries,” he said.

“Obviously it’s something we’ve taken seriously.”

Kirby said the US also believes that the pact between Russia and North Korea is a cause for concern for China as well, and the United States is therefore urging China to do more against Pyongyang.

The White House will speed up the delivery of anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine by redirecting planned shipments to other allied states, while Washington simultaneously seeks to counter increasing Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

National security spokesman John Kirby said the US had made the “difficult but necessary decision to re-prioritize short-term planned arms deliveries to other countries.” However, he declined to say which countries would be affected and how many.

“We now know that Ukraine urgently needs this additional capacity,” Kirby said in a phone call with reporters, adding: “It is obvious that more is needed, and it is needed now.”

The announcement comes after President Joe Biden indicated at the G7 meeting in Italy last week that such action might be necessary: ​​”We have told the countries that expect air defense systems from us in the future that they will have to wait.”

“Everything we have will go to Ukraine until their needs are met,” Biden said. “And then we will fulfill the commitments we have made to other countries.”

This is Oleksandr Mykhed’s language of war. This is the language of Ukrainians. This, he says, is what we should be prepared for: “Because something like this could happen in your country too, and you better be prepared for it.”

Mykhed – one of Ukraine’s most prolific authors – is in London to launch his tenth book. The language of war. His once limp blonde hair is gone, shaved instead into a military-style buzz cut; a nod to his second job, which he didn’t choose.

Mykhed, 36, enlisted in the military as soon as the full-scale invasion began. Although he had no experience, he was told he would become an ammunition man for mortar batteries. “You will hand grenades to the loader, carry a box of grenades and the mortar itself,” the recruiting officer told him when he asked what he meant by “mortar man.”

Tom Watling says to him: