SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Russian media say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is on his way back home after concluding a trip to Russia's Far East.
New photographs have revealed the hellish conditions and injuries faced by Ukrainian troops fighting Russian forces around the eastern city of Bakhmut.
Moscow has vowed to “burn” the US Abrams tanks that arrived in Ukraine yesterday as it downplayed their significance on the battlefield.
Western governments have placed air defence systems “at the top of the list” of military aid to Ukraine as Russia gears up for winter attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure, sources have told The Telegraph.
STORY: Thousands of South Korean troops marched through central Seoul in the country’s first large-scale display of military might in a decade.The parade marked Armed Forces Day with attack aircraft, drones and tanks, as well as ballistic and defense missiles on show .The full-day event is a deviation from the traditionally muted occasion. Instead a message directed at their Northern neighbors.South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol fired a warning shot at Pyongyang as he addressed troops at Seoul Air Base. "If North Korea provokes, the (South Korean) military will immediately retribute based on practical combat capabilities and firm military readiness. If North Korea uses nuclear weapons, its regime will be brought to an end by an overwhelming response from the ROK-U.S. alliance."Hundreds braved the rain in the city’s main business district to glimpse the one mile long procession of artillery.It was the first street parade since 2013 and a demonstration was held by activists nearby denouncing the display for fanning tensions between the two countries. But the bravado has become a cornerstone of President Yoon’s hawkish stance on the North since taking office last year."Despite repeated warnings for decades from the international society, North Korea has been advancing their nuclear and missile capabilities, and even openly threatening nuclear use. These are existential threats to people of the Republic of Korea and also a significant challenge to world peace."After Kim Jong Un’s recent visit to Russia, Yoon has stated any enhancement of North Korea’s weapons programme by the Kremlin would be a ‘’direct provocation’’.President Yoon has meanwhile actively strengthened military relationships with Washington and Tokyo.
Admiral Viktor Sokolov appears in new but undated Russian defence ministry video – and is not heard speaking
Trilateral discussions to resume in response to Beijing’s fears over growing US influence in region
A century-old institute that used to focus on criminal cases is studying Russia’s weapons, and where parts are coming from
Several hundred members of Russia’s Wagner private mercenary group have returned to eastern Ukraine to fight but are not having a significant impact on the battlefield, a Ukrainian military spokesman has said.
Watch live as South Korea holds first large-scale military parade in a decade to mark Armed Forces Day on Tuesday 26 September. Weapons ranging from ballistic missiles to attack helicopters are due to roll through Seoul in a show of force as it takes a tougher stance against North Korea. The parade marks the country’s Armed Forces Day, normally a muted event relative to the massive events the North has staged under leader Kim Jong Un that include strategic weapons such as intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM).
Ukraine claimed Viktor Sokolov was among 34 officers killed in missile strike on Black Sea Fleet’s HQ
The Ukrainian Special Operations Forces also claimed that 105 others were injured
BUCHAREST (Reuters) -Romania plans to buy 32 latest-generation F-35 fighter planes from U.S. manufacturer Lockheed Martin, for $6.5 billion, the defence ministry said on Tuesday, under a deal whose outline was announced in April. The European Union and NATO member has raised defence spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product this year from 2%, in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Romania shares a 650-km (400 mile) border with Ukraine, and has seen the conflict approach its borders as Moscow has repeatedly attacked Ukrainian ports across the River Danube.
Army chiefs and senior officers from 30 countries including the United States met in India Tuesday to discuss threats facing the Asia-Pacific region, in the face of concern at an increasingly assertive China.The conference, which launched in 1999, brings together army chiefs and top officers from 30 countries.
South Korea on Tuesday staged its first military parade in a decade, showcasing its advanced arsenal in the face of plummeting ties with nuclear-armed North Korea.Pyongyang regularly puts on huge military parades but such events in Seoul are traditionally arranged every five years to mark South Korea's Armed Forces Day.The last parade was in 2013. Five years later, then-president Moon Jae-in chose to hold a celebratory ceremony instead of a military event, in line with his conciliatory approach to North Korea.On a rain-soaked afternoon, around 6,700 troops marched through central Seoul, cheered by umbrella-bearing crowds who waved South Korean flags.They were accompanied by 340 pieces of military equipment, including air and sea drones, tanks and missiles.A flight display by South Korean warplanes, including US-made F-35 stealth fighters, was cancelled because of poor weather conditions.South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol watched the parade from a platform, applauding troops as they marched past."To demonstrate the strong foundation" of Seoul's alliance with Washington, around 300 US military personnel also participated in the parade.Yoon, who was elected last year, has pulled South Korea closer to the United States and the longstanding allies have ramped up defence cooperation -- including large-scale drills -- to counter growing threats from North Korea.During an Armed Forces Day ceremony earlier at an air base south of Seoul, Yoon hailed the expansion of US-South Korea defence ties."If North Korea uses nuclear weapons, its regime will be brought to an end by an overwhelming response from the ROK-US alliance," he said at the base, repeating a warning the partners have issued in the past.- 'Visually provocative gesture' -Despite international sanctions, North Korea has conducted a series of weapons tests this year, including the launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).Pyongyang has held three military parades this year alone, showing off a wide range of equipment including its largest Hwasong-17 ICBMs.The parade in Seoul "is a not-so-subtle and visually provocative gesture on the part of the South Korean government of telling (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Un that Seoul will not be backing down or looking for ways to reconcile", LMI Consulting's Soo Kim, a former CIA analyst, told AFP.South Korea is a major weapons exporter but a longstanding domestic policy prohibits it from selling arms to countries in active conflict -- such as Ukraine.South Korea has thus resisted calls to supply weapons directly to Kyiv, despite condemning the Russian invasion.However, any deal that sees North Korea sell arms to Russia for use in the conflict could force South Korea to review its position on Ukraine, experts say.Last year, South Korea secured defence export deals worth $17.3 billion, including a $12.7 billion agreement with Poland -- a NATO member and key Ukraine ally -- for K9 Howitzers, K2 battle tanks and more.cdl-kjk/qan
Fresh offensives seem unlikely as troops were not deployed en masse to one area
Russia targeted Ukraine’s Danube River ports and other parts of the country with dozens of drones overnight into Tuesday, September 26, the governor of Odesa and the air force said.Footage posted by the Volunteers Without Borders Association on Tuesday morning showed passengers on a ferry between Isaccea in Romania and Ukraine’s Orlivka terminal talking about a drone before the sound of the weapons and air defense systems can be heard.The association’s founder, Gabor Petru, who transports aid weekly to Ukrainian civilians in the conflict zone, was returning from delivering water and clothes to Kherson when the drone attack began, he told Storyful.Odesa Oblast Governor Oleh Kiper said one of the drones struck infrastructure in the Izmail district. Two men, both truck drivers, were injured in the attack on the Orlivka border infrastructure, Operational Command South said.Ukraine’s Air Force said defense systems intercepted 26 of 38 Shahed-136 drones launched from Crimea and Russia overnight. Credit: Volunteers Without Borders Association via Storyful
North Korea accused the United States on Tuesday of making 2023 an “extremely dangerous year,” saying its actions are trying to provoke a nuclear war and denouncing both U.S. and South Korean leaders for “hysterical remarks of confrontation” that it says are raising the temperature in the region. Kim Song, North Korea's U.N. ambassador, also said Washington was trying to create “the Asian version of NATO,” the military alliance that includes European nations and the United States and Canada. Kim came out swinging in his speech to world leaders with harsher words than he brought to the same U.N. General Assembly meeting last year.
Neutral Switzerland said it would sell back some of its German-made Leopard 2 tanks to help rebuild stocks depleted by aid to Ukraine.
The Irish military and police recovered a significant quantity of suspected cocaine in a raid on a ship off the coast of Cork on Tuesday, September 26, days after a trawler suspected to be linked to the haul ran aground in Wexford.Ireland’s national police force, the Garda Siochana, said on Tuesday evening that its officers, the Irish Defence Forces, and Revenue members coordinated the operation, which resulted in the boarding and detention of the Panama-registered bulk cargo ship MV Matthew early that morning, and the recovery of a “substantial” amount of narcotics, according to the Irish Air Corps.Army Ranger Wing personnel secured the ship before it was searched, the police said, and media reported that naval officers fired warning shots during the operation.Three men, aged 31, 50, and 60, were arrested on suspicion of organized crime offenses and were detained in Wexford.The operation came two days after a trawler, purchased the previous day in western County Cork, ran around off Ireland’s southern coast in bad weather. The military were searching for possible drugs that may have been thrown overboard, The Irish Times said. Credit: Irish Defence Forces via Storyful
Admiral Viktor Sokolov appears in new but undated video on Russian TV
