Ukraine-Russia latest: Major drone attack on Putin’s forces by Kyiv as North Korea ‘prepares more troops’
Russian air defences repelled a massive Ukrainian drone attack overnight, intercepting and destroying 121 drones targeting 13 regions, including Moscow.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said early on Friday that air defences had intercepted attacks by Ukrainian drones at four locations around the Russian capital. Sobyanin, writing on Telegram, said air defences southeast of the capital in Kolomna and Ramenskoye had repelled “enemy” drones, without specifying how many.
The attack came as South Korea’s military said North Korea is preparing to send more troops to join Russia’s fight against Ukraine, despite Pyongyang suffering a high rate of losses among its existing deployment of 11,000 and seeing some of its soldiers captured.
At Davos on Thursday, Donald Trump issued some of his harshest criticism of Vladimir Putin yet for the ongoing war, and said he “really would like to be able to meet with President Putin soon to get that war ended”.
Yet just hours later an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity was aired in which Mr Trump suggested the war only started because of Volodymyr Zelensky’s failure to preemptively capitulate before Russian troops began their invasion.
Key Points
Moscow mayor says air defences repel Ukrainian drone attacks aimed at capital
Kyiv hits major oil refinery during drone attack
North Korea suspected of preparing to send more troops to Russia, Seoul says
Trump says Ukraine should have surrendered to Russia and blames Zelensky for war
Russia executes six Ukrainian prisoners of war
Ukraine's military says its drones hit oil, industrial sites in Russia's Ryazan, Bryansk
14:38 , Jabed Ahmed
Ukraine‘s military said on its drones hit oil facilities in Russia’s Ryazan and a microelectronics production plant in Bryansk.
It said in a statement that the attacked facilities were involved in supplying Russia’s army.
Watch | Emergency workers battle huge Russian drone attack on Kyiv as three people confirmed dead
14:29 , Jabed Ahmed
What is Russia’s strategic partnership with North Korea?
14:09 , Jabed Ahmed
Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a “comprehensive strategic partnership” pact in Pyongyang on 19 June, 2024, including a mutual defence clause in case of aggression against either country.
Kim expressed “unconditional support” for “all of Russia’s policies”, including “a full support and firm alliance” for Russia’s war in Ukraine. Putin has said Russia would help North Korea build satellites.
The US and South Korea say North Korea has shipped ballistic missiles, anti-tank rockets and millions of rounds of ammunition for Russia to use in the war. Moscow and Pyongyang have denied weapons transfers.
Ukraine, South Korea and the US say Kim has sent more than 11,000 troops to fight for Russia in its western Kursk region, part of which has been held by Ukraine since August. Ukraine says many North Korean soldiers have been killed and wounded. Moscow has never confirmed or denied their presence.
What Trump 2.0 could mean for Ukraine
13:49 , Jabed Ahmed
Trump has been critical of US support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, and has said he could end the war in 24 hours if elected - although advisers concede it will likely take months if not longer.
He has suggested Ukraine may have to yield some of its territory if a peace deal is to be struck.
Trump and his pick for national security adviser, US Representative Michael Waltz, have criticized the Biden administration’s decision in November to allow Ukraine to use US-provided missiles to strike within Russian territory.
Trump has also said that under his presidency the US would fundamentally rethink Nato’s purpose and Nato’s mission.
Challenges for the Russian economy in 2025
13:29 , Jabed Ahmed
The Russian economy has shown resilience during the three years of war in Ukraine and Western sanctions. However, as the war approaches its fourth year, the economy faces major challenges with key economic policymakers at odds on how to address them.
Below are the key challenges for the Russian economy in 2025:
Inflation
Russian annual inflation reached 9.5% in 2024, driven by high military and national security spending, which is set to account for 41% of total state budget spending in 2025, state subsidies on loans, and spiralling wage growth amid labour shortages.
Inflation tops the list of economic woes in public opinion polls, with prices for staple foods such as butter, eggs, and vegetables showing double-digit growth last year.
Economic slowdown
The government projects that economic growth rates will slow to 2.5% in 2025 from around 4% in 2024 as a result of measures to cool down the overheated economy, while the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects growth at 1.4% this year.
The pro-government economic think tank TsMAKP estimated that many industrial sectors outside defence have been stagnating since 2023, raising prospects of stagflation, a combination of high inflation and economic stagnation.
Budget deficit
Russia’s budget deficit reached 1.7% of GDP in 2024, while the country’s National Wealth Fund, the main source of financing the deficit, has been depleted by two-thirds during three years of war.
The government raised taxes to bring the deficit down to 0.5% of GDP in 2025, but its revenues could also fall due to the latest U.S. energy sanctions, which targeted Russia’s oil and gas sector.
Wife of Ukrainian-Russian businessman Khan loses UK sanctions appeal
13:10 , Jabed Ahmed
Ukrainian-Russian businessman German Khan’s wife has lost her appeal to overturn British sanctions imposed on her following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The UK maintains a 100 per cent record of defending sanctions challenges.
Britain slapped sanctions on Anzhelika Khan in April 2022 after taking similar measures a month earlier against her husband, German, who co-founded investment group LetterOne and whose net worth Forbes estimates at $8.8 billion.
She argued that the sanctions were unlawful because she had no involvement in Russian politics and held no influence over the Russian government.
Her case was dismissed last February. The Court of Appeal on Friday rejected Khan’s appeal against that ruling.
Judge Rabinder Singh said in a written ruling that he did not accept an argument from Khan’s lawyer that there was no rational connection between Khan being sanctioned and its purpose.
Russians could face jail for divulging logistics of sanctioned goods
12:49 , Jabed Ahmed
A Russian draft law proposes punishment of up to seven years in prison and heavy fines for the public disclosure of information about the supply chains of sanctioned goods imported into Russia and about payment systems.
Russia still relies on many high-tech goods produced in the West, such as microchips, which are banned for export to Russia. These goods are essential for keeping many Russian industrial enterprises operational, including in the defence sector.
To bypass Western sanctions, including those imposed over the conflict in Ukraine, Russia has established complex logistical schemes through intermediaries in third countries and an international transactions infrastructure.
Many Russian officials and businesspeople have been calling for logistics and payments information to be classified as a state secret.
The authors of the draft referred to websites disseminating leaked customs data, as well as information appearing in traditional media or on social media about logistics schemes for delivering sanctioned goods.
Kremlin says Ukraine conflict is about national security, not oil
12:29 , Jabed Ahmed
The Ukraine war is about Russia’s national security and not about oil prices, the Kremlin said on Friday after U.S. Donald Trump called for a cut in the price of oil.
Trump on Thursday said he will demand Saudi Arabia and OPEC bring down the cost of oil.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, responding to a question about those comments, said the issues for Russia in Ukraine were about national security, threats to Russians living there, and the refusal of the United States and Europe to listen to Russia’s concerns.
Ukraine and its Western supporters reject those arguments, saying Russia launched the war as an imperial-style land grab.
Kremlin says Putin is ready to talk to Trump and is waiting for word from Washington
12:09 , Jabed Ahmed
Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to hold a phone call with US President Donald Trump and Moscow is waiting for word from Washington that it is ready too, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
Trump said on Thursday he wanted to meet Putin as soon as possible to secure an end to the war with Ukraine and expressed his desire to work towards cutting nuclear arms.
Putin wants to restart nuclear arms cuts talks, Kremlin says after Trump comment
11:48 , Jabed Ahmed
Russian President Vladimir Putin has made clear he wants to restart nuclear arms cuts talks as soon as possible, the Kremlin said in response to comments by US President Donald Trump.
Trump said on Thursday he wanted to work towards cutting nuclear arms, adding that he thought Russia and China might support reducing their own weapons capabilities.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the ball was in Washington’s court.
Russian forces take control of settlement of Tymofiivka in eastern Ukraine, RIA says
11:29 , Jabed Ahmed
Russian troops have taken control of the settlement of Tymofiivka in Ukraine‘s eastern Donetsk region, the RIA state news agency reported, citing the Defence Ministry.
The Independent could not verify the battlefield report.
Hungary wants Ukraine gas transit to resume as EU sanctions rollover looms
11:09 , Jabed Ahmed
Hungary wants the European Union to persuade Ukraine to resume gas transit from Russia to Europe, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said, signalling a tough debate as the EU seeks to extend its sanctions against Russia over the coming week.
Hungary has not yet decided whether to support the sanctions rollover due at the end of this month. The EU renews sanctions every six months and requires unanimity among its 27 member countries to do so.
Orban, whose government has maintained closer economic and political relations with Moscow than other EU countries, reiterated his criticism of the sanctions on Friday, saying they caused 19 billion euros ($19.9 billion) of financial damage to Hungary. He did not say how this number was calculated.
“Now the issue of the rollover of the sanctions is on the agenda and I have pulled the brakes and asked EU leaders to understand this cannot continue,” Orban told state radio.
“This is not good that we pay the price of helping Ukraine ... and they cause us problems,” he said, referring to a recent move by Ukraine to halt Russian gas flows to Europe on the Druzhba pipeline.
“We ask them to convince Ukraine to resume the gas transit,” Orban said, adding Budapest also wanted guarantees that Ukraine would not halt Russian crude imports.
EU foreign ministers will meet on Monday to decide on the sanctions rollover and Hungary’s foreign minister has flagged a big debate, saying Hungary would also consult its U.S. partners in the coming days.
Risk of clash between nuclear powers is growing, Russian security official says
10:44 , Jabed Ahmed
Russian security official Sergei Shoigu warned in an interview published on Friday that the risk of an armed clash between nuclear powers was rising.
Shoigu, the secretary of President Vladimir Putin’s Security Council, told TASS news agency: “Against the backdrop of increasing conflict and aggravation of geopolitical rivalry in the world, the risks of a violent clash between major states, including with the participation of nuclear powers, are growing.”
The former defence minister said that NATO was increasing activities on its eastern flank, close to Russia and Belarus, and rehearsing offensive as well as defensive scenarios there.
NATO says it is Russia that is raising tensions, including by announcing in 2023 that it was deploying tactical nuclear weapons in its ally Belarus, which borders three NATO countries.
Shoigu said that Russia, which sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, and Belarus were taking preventive measures against Western attempts aimed at “destabilizing the situation... from within”.
He reiterated that Belarus was now under the protection of Russia’s nuclear arsenal, as a consequence of changes that Putin announced last year to Russia’s doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons.
“The Russian ‘nuclear umbrella’ now ensures the protection of our closest ally in the same framework scenarios in which Russia allows a nuclear response for its own defence,” he said.
“Namely, when repelling an attack using weapons of mass destruction or aggression using conventional weapons that creates a critical threat to sovereignty or territorial integrity.”
North Korea suspected of preparing to send more troops to Russia, Seoul says
10:14 , Jabed Ahmed
South Korea's military said that it suspects North Korea is preparing to send more troops to Russia to fight Ukrainian forces, even after suffering losses and seeing some of its soldiers captured.
"As four months have passed for the dispatch of troops for the Russia-Ukraine war, and multiple casualties and captives have occurred, (North Korea) is suspected to be accelerating follow-up measures and preparation for an additional dispatch of troops," the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement.
The JCS analysis did not specify what other follow-up measures Pyongyang might take.
North Korea is also preparing to launch a spy satellite and an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), though there were no signs of immediate action, the JCS said.
This month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said two North Korean soldiers had been captured in Russia's Kursk region, marking the first time Ukraine had taken North Korean soldiers alive since their entry into the war last autumn.
Pyongyang has deployed about 11,000 soldiers to support Moscow's forces in Russia's western Kursk region, according to Ukrainian and Western assessments, which Ukraine seized in a surprise attack last year.
More than 3,000 have been killed or wounded, according to Kyiv.
ICYMI | Moscow mayor says air defences repel Ukrainian drone attacks aimed at capital
09:44 , Jabed Ahmed
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has said that air defence units had intercepted three separate attacks by Ukrainian drones headed for Russia’s capital.
Sobyanin, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said air defence units southeast of the capital in the Kolomna and Ramenskoye district had repelled one group of “enemy” drones, without specifying how many were involved.
“At the site where fragments fell, no damage or casualties have occurred,” Sobyanin wrote on the Telegram messaging app, without specifying how many drones were involved. “Specialist emergency crews are at the site.”
The mayor posted two more announcements in quick succession.
Sobyanin said two drones also headed for Moscow had been downed by air defences in Podolsk district, south of the capital. He then reported a single drone downed in Troitsky district, in the southwest of the capital.
Specialist emergency crews were dispatched to all the sites, Sobyanin said.
Russia accuses Unicef head of caring more about kids in Ukraine than Gaza
09:16 , Jabed Ahmed
Russia reprimanded the head of the UN children's agency Unicef for not providing a "weighty argument for her refusal" to brief the Security Council on children in Gaza - a meeting requested by Russia.
Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Unicef Executive Director Catherine Russell, an American, had briefed the 15-member council on children in Ukraine "at the drop of a hat" in December, during the U.S. presidency of the council.
"So it would appear that for Unicef children in Gaza are less important than children in Ukraine," Nebenzia said.
"The refusal of Unicef head to brief the Security Council about the horrific tragedy linked to the death of tens of thousands of children in Gaza is a flagrant step, which deserves our most serious censure," Nebenzia told the council.
Russell is at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland with a focus on addressing humanitarian crises and was unable to adjust her schedule to brief the Security Council, said a Unicef spokesperson.
"Ms. Russell had offered the Director of Emergencies to deliver her statement on her behalf," the Unicef spokesperson said. "The Unicef Executive Director has briefed the Security Council several times on the situation of children in Gaza and appreciates the council's focus on children impacted by war."
The Security Council has met dozens of times to discuss the war in Gaza. Israel's armed and security forces, Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants, and Russia's armed forces are all on the UN global list of offenders for killing and maiming children.
Pictured | Russian drone strike on the town of Hlevakha, Kyiv
08:51 , Jabed Ahmed
Full report | Trump says Ukraine should have surrendered to Russia and blames Zelensky for war
08:23 , Jabed Ahmed
Trump says Ukraine should have surrendered to Russia and blames Zelensky for war
Russia executes six Ukrainian prisoners of war
07:57 , Arpan Rai
Russian forces recently executed at least six unarmed Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) in Donetsk, a US-based think tank said citing Ukrainian sources.
“Ukrainian sources circulated footage on 23 January of Russian soldiers shooting unarmed Ukrainian POWs in an unspecified area of Ukraine,” the Institute for the Study of War said.
Ukrainian officials are investigating social media footage of Russian forces executing six captured and unarmed Ukrainian servicemembers in an unspecified area of Donetsk oblast, the country’s human rights commissioner Dmytro Lyubinets said.
He noted that the footage shows a seventh Ukrainian POW in this group but that it is unclear what happened to the seventh POW based on the footage.
“ISW has frequently reported that Russian forces are conducting frontline executions of Ukrainian POWs and continues to assess that Russian military commanders are either complicit in or enabling their subordinates to conduct these executions,” the think tank said.
North Korea prepares to send more troops to Russia after suffering casualties
07:43 , Arpan Rai
South Korea’s military said it suspects North Korea is preparing to send additional troops to Russia after its soldiers fighting in the Russian-Ukraine war suffered heavy casualties.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff also assessed in a report distributed to journalists that North Korea is continuing its preparations to test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile intended to reach the US.
They said that North Korea is believed to be accelerating preparations to send more troops to Russia, without saying how it reached the assessment.
North Korea to send more troops to Russia after suffering losses, South Korea says
Three killed in Russian attack on Kyiv
07:15 , Arpan Rai
Russia launched a barrage of drones in an overnight attack on Ukraine, killing three civilians and damaging residential and commercial buildings, officials said.
The interior ministry said that drone debris had killed two men and a woman in the central Kyiv region, and that another person was injured. The attack damaged a multistory residential apartment building, eight private houses, commercial buildings, and several private cars, Kyiv regional officials said.
As the war approaches the three-year mark, Russia has stepped up its air attacks on Ukraine, sending dozens of drones almost every night.
Ukrainian officials have said that Russian forces launched more than 7,000 drones in 2024, at least twice as many as in 2023. Most were shot down or redirected by electronic warfare, but many still hit their targets.
EU needs to end its military dependency on the US and arm itself 'to survive,' says Tusk
07:15 , Arpan Rai
The European Union cannot rely on the United States to defend it and must increase military spending and security preparedness to help Ukraine and deter Russia from targeting any more of its neighbors, top EU officials have warned.
EU needs to end its military dependency on the US and arm itself 'to survive,' says Tusk
Trump blames Zelensky for start of Ukraine war
07:08 , Arpan Rai
Donald Trump has said Volodymyr Zelensky “has had enough” and “wants to settle” with Russian president Vladimir Putin but criticised him for fighting back against Russia in the first place.
Mr Zelensky, he said, is “no angel” and “shouldn’t have allowed this war to happen,” even though it was Russia that invaded Ukraine.
“First of all, he’s fighting a much bigger entity, okay, much bigger. When he was, you know, talking so brave... Zelensky was fighting a much bigger entity, much bigger, much more powerful. He shouldn’t have done that, because we could have made a deal, and it would have been a deal that would have been, it would have been a nothing deal,” Mr Trump claimed.
“I could have made that deal so easily. And Zelensky decided: ‘I want to fight,’” he said, suggesting he believes the Ukrainian president should have capitulated and conceded territory in the face of the impending Russian attack.
Trump says Ukraine should have surrendered to Russia and blames Zelensky for war
Full report: Ukraine reforming its recruitment efforts to attract younger soldiers and boost forces
07:00 , Arpan Rai
Ukraine is in the final stages of drafting recruitment reforms to attract 18- to 25-year-olds who are currently exempt from mobilization as it looks for ways to bolster its fighting force, the battlefield commander recently appointed to the President’s Office said.
Hannah Arhirova reports:
Ukraine is reforming its recruitment efforts to attract younger soldiers and boost forces
Ukraine urges Trump to lower Russia oil cap
06:42 , Arpan Rai
Volodymyr Zelensky said a key element in achieving security for Ukraine and bringing Russia to account was reducing European consumption of Russian energy, particularly oil.
“Naturally, energy resources, particularly oil, are one of the biggest keys to peace and real security,” he said. “And Europe needs to work more closely with America and other international partners, not Russia, on energy resources,” the Ukrainian president said.
The president’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said a firm price cap on Russian oil was “the path to global security” and stood by $30 per barrel on Russian oil, as recommended by an international expert group he co-chairs. The cap, introduced after Russia’s invasion, currently stands at $60.
“We fully support US president Donald Trump’s aspiration to lower the price on oil,” Mr Yermak wrote on Telegram. “The consequence of this would be the collapse of Russia’s ability to finance the war.”
Too soon to talk foreign troop numbers in Ukraine, Kyiv says
06:40 , Arpan Rai
Ukraine says talks about a possible foreign troop contingent to enforce a ceasefire in the war-hit country are only in their early stages.
“Yes, the discussion is ongoing about... the military contingents of foreign powers, foreign nations that can be potentially deployed to Ukraine,” foreign ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi told reporters at a briefing in Kyiv. “The discussion is in its very early stages,” he said.
To prevent Russian aggression after the war ends, Ukraine is seeking security guarantees from its allies as part of any potential peace deal. President Volodymyr Zelensky says this would need to include at least 200,000 European peacekeepers.
In a later interview with Bloomberg, he clarified that number would depend on the size of Ukraine’s military, which he has said Kyiv does not want to cut as a part of any deal – something Russia has demanded. Its armed forces currently number around 800,000 personnel.
“We think that durable, reliable security guarantees for Ukraine must include both Europe and the United States. This is how we can ensure that this peace is sustainable and durable,” Mr Tykhyi said.
Russia is biggest external threat to Britain, warns UK defence secretary
06:30 , Andy Gregory
UK defence secretary John Healey has told the Commons that Russia is the biggest external threat to Britain, warning that aggression from Vladimir Putin “will not be tolerated at home or in Ukraine”.
The defence secretary told MPs on Wednesday that Russia was “dangerous but fundamentally weak”, as he referenced the casualties the country had suffered during the war in Ukraine and its decision to draft in troops from North Korea.
Risk of armed clash between nuclear powers is growing, top Russian official warns
06:04 , Arpan Rai
Sergei Shoigu, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council and a former defence minister, has warned that the risk of an armed clash between nuclear powers is growing, the state TASS news agency reported today.
Shoigu, a close aide of Russian president Vladimir Putin, said that increasing geopolitical rivalry between large states on the world stage was raising the risk of such a clash.
He also accused the Nato military alliance of increasing its activities close to the eastern flank of Russia and Belarus and of rehearsing offensive as well as defensive scenarios there.
Both sides must compromise, says new US secretary of state
06:00 , Andy Gregory
Ending the war in Ukraine will only be possible if both sides are willing to make compromises, the new US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said.
In a conversation with journalists after being confirmed in his role, he said according to CNN: “We want the war to end. That’s pretty clear.
“You saw the President talked about, he wants to be a president that promotes peace and ends conflicts, and it’ll be complicated as well.
“Those are complicated things. I couldn’t put a time frame on it, other than to say that anytime you bring an end to a conflict between two sides, neither of whom can achieve their maximum goals, each side is going to have to give up something.”
Achieving peace is a priority for president Donald Trump’s administration, Mr Rubio added. He did not specify what type of concessions Ukraine would need to make.
Around 1,000 North Koreans killed in Kursk fighting Ukraine, officials say
05:30 , Andy Gregory
North Korea has suffered nearly 40 per cent casualties among its forces fighting alongside Russia in the western Kursk region, Western officials told the BBC.
Out of the estimated 11,000 troops sent from North Korea, 4,000 were battle casualties in just three months of fighting – including those killed, wounded, missing or captured – the officials said on condition of anonymity.
Of these 4,000 losses, nearly 1,000 are believed to have been killed by mid-January.
Ukrainian officials are yet to release their own tally. North Korea has not issued any comment on the presence of its troops inside Russia.
Russia says 121 Ukrainian drones downed overnight
05:23 , Arpan Rai
Russia’s air defence systems intercepted and destroyed 121 drones launched by Ukraine overnight, its defence ministry said today.
The drones were downed over 13 Russian regions, including seven over Moscow and the nearby region, the ministry said in a statement.
Unofficial Russian Telegram channels reported a “large number” of drones over the Kursk region and posted videos of explosions.
Kursk mayor Igor Kutsak said the attack had damaged power lines and cut off electricity to one city district.
UK monitors Russian spy ship and steps up undersea cable protection
05:00 , Andy Gregory
Britain said it monitored a Russian spy ship in the English Channel in recent days and would strengthen its response to secret operations by Russian ships and aircraft in an effort to protect undersea cables.
Defence minister John Healey said Yantar, a Russian spy vessel used for intelligence and mapping critical infrastructure on the sea floor, entered British waters on Monday and the Royal Navy tracked it for two days until it entered Dutch waters. Russia’s embassy in London did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
“We will not shy away from robust action to protect Britain,” Mr Healey said on Wednesday. “We are strengthening our response to ensure that Russian ships and aircraft cannot operate in secrecy near UK or Nato territory.”
Worries over the potential sabotage of power cables, telecom links and gas pipelines have been growing after a string of outages in the Baltic Sea following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Britain decided to send maritime patrol and surveillance aircraft to help Nato’s efforts to protect cables in the Baltic Sea, Sir John announced, adding that it would also deploy an advanced AI system to help safeguard undersea infrastructure.
Trump says Ukraine should have surrendered to Russia, blames Zelensky for war
04:46 , Arpan Rai
President Donald Trump claimed in part two of a televised interview that the nearly three-year-old war between Russia and Ukraine that started when Moscow’s forces kicked off an invasion in 2022 was the fault of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s failure to preemptively capitulate before Russian troops began their attack.
Trump made the incendiary comments in a pre-taped interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity that aired Thursday on Hannity’s program.
After Hannity asked about Trump’s threat to impose tariffs as a penalty on Russia if the Ukrainian war continues much longer, Trump responded that Zelensky “has had enough” and “wants to settle” with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Trump says Ukraine should have surrendered to Russia and blames Zelensky for war
North Korea suspected of preparing to send more troops to Russia, Seoul says
04:36 , Arpan Rai
North Korea is preparing to send more troops to Russia to fight Ukrainian forces, despite suffering a high rate of losses and seeing some of its soldiers captured, South Korea’s military said.
“As four months have passed for the dispatch of troops for the Russia-Ukraine war, and multiple casualties and captives have occurred, (North Korea) is suspected to be accelerating follow-up measures and preparation for an additional dispatch of troops,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement today.
The JCS analysis did not specify what other follow-up measures Pyongyang might take.
North Korea is also preparing to launch a spy satellite and an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), though there were no signs of immediate action on this front, the JCS said.
Pyongyang has deployed about 11,000 soldiers to support Moscow’s forces in Russia’s western Kursk region, according to Ukrainian and Western assessments. Ukraine seized Kursk in a surprise attack last year. More than 3,000 have been killed or wounded, according to Kyiv.
Ukrainian army deploys cat noises to lure Russians into explosive-laden traps, soldier claims
04:30 , Andy Gregory
Ukrainians are using recordings of cat noises to lure Vladimir Putin’s forces into explosive-rigged traps, a Russian soldier has claimed.
With the grit and ingenuity of the Ukrainian army frequently evidenced in its success in defending against Russia’s vast invading force, it has now been claimed that they are turning to an unusual tactic in appealing to the Russians’ reported fondness for cats.
The tactic has been reported on the frontline of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, which has seen some of the war’s most gruelling fighting in recent months as Mr Putin’s forces sought to capture as much territory as possible ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House this week.
Ukrainians ‘using cat noises to lure Russian soldiers into explosive-laden traps’
Nato chief says stopping Putin will cost trillions if they don’t support Ukraine now
04:20 , Arpan Rai
A Russian victory over Ukraine would greatly undermine the power of Nato and its credibility would cost trillions to restore, the alliance’s secretary general has warned.
Mark Rutte insisted that Ukraine‘s Western backers must not scale back the support they are providing to the country, almost three years after Vladimir Putin’s invasion began.
Nato has been increasing its forces along its eastern flank with Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, deploying thousands of troops and equipment. This is to deter Moscow from expanding its war into the territory of any of the organization’s 32 member countries.
Nato chief says stopping Putin will cost trillions if they don’t support Ukraine now
Trump says he has no desire to hurt Russia
04:00 , Andy Gregory
Donald Trump urged Russian president Vladimir Putin to “settle now and stop this ridiculous war” in a post to his Truth Social site on Wednesday.
He said he had no desire to hurt Russia — which he noted had played a major role in securing victory for the Allies against Nazi Germany in the Second World War — and has a good relationship with Mr Putin, but warned of penalties if the war isn’t stopped soon.
“If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries,” Mr Trump said.
Mr Trump has been sceptical of the billions of dollars the Biden administration provided Ukraine in weapons and other materiel to defend itself. He has often spoken of his desire to end the war and said on the campaign trail that he could end the conflict within 24 hours of taking office. That has not happened.
Trump says he is not sure US should spend 'anything' on Nato
03:42 , Arpan Rai
Donald Trump has said he was not sure the United States should be spending anything on Nato, telling reporters the US was protecting Nato members, but they were “not protecting us”.
“I’m not sure we should be spending anything, but we should certainly be helping them,” Mr Trump told reporters after signing an executive order in the Oval Office. “We’re protecting them. They’re not protecting us.”
“They should up their 2 per cent to 5 per cent,” he said, repeating his remarks earlier to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. No Nato nation, including the US, is is currently spending 5 per cent of GDP on defence.
Washington finances 15.8 per cent of the 32-member military alliance’s yearly expenditure of around $3.5bn. That is the joint-largest share, alongside Germany’s, according to a Nato breakdown for 2024.
‘I didn’t know I would be fighting in Ukraine’ - captured North Korean soldier
03:30 , Andy Gregory
A North Korean soldier captured by Ukraine has said he did not know who he would be fighting against or where he would fight.
In the recording of the interview, posted by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on X, the soldier says he arrived with Russia along with 100 fellow North Koreans on a ship, before being later transported by train.
The soldier, who had joined the army aged 17 as a conscript, said some of his compatriots were trained on heavy Russian military equipment - but that he did not go through this training.
“I didn’t know before coming to Russia that I would be fighting here, in Russia and I didn’t even know who we were fighting against,” the soldier told Ukrainian investigators.
“There were a lot of casualties when I was there alone, starting from the battle on Jan. 3. Overall, it’s hard to answer about such large-scale numbers.”
When asked what he knew about the world outside of North Korea, he said: “Not much.” Asked what he knows about South Korea, he said: “I only know that South Korea has fewer mountains than North Korea.”
Russia shuts airports amid major drone attack
03:14 , Arpan Rai
Rosaviatsiya, the federal aviation agency, has said two Moscow airports, Vnukovo and Domodedovo, were handling flights after suspending operations for a time. Six flights were redirected to other airports.
In the Ryazan region, southeast of Moscow, regional governor Pavel Markov said on Telegram that emergency services were tackling the aftermath of an air attack.
Russian officials say Ukrainian drones downed in Moscow, other regions
03:01 , Arpan Rai
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said early today that air defence units had intercepted attacks by Ukrainian drones at four locations around the Russian capital.
Mr Sobyanin said air defence units southeast of the capital in the Kolomna and Ramenskoye districts had repelled one group of “enemy” drones, without specifying how many were involved.
“At the site where fragments fell, no damage or casualties have occurred,” Mr Sobyanin wrote on the Telegram app. “Specialist emergency crews are at the site.”
The mayor posted three more announcements in quick succession. He said two drones also headed for Moscow had been downed by air defences in Podolsk district, south of the capital.
He then reported a single drone downed in Troitsky district, in the southwest of the capital and in Shchyolkovo, to the northeast.Specialist emergency crews were dispatched to all the sites, the mayor said.
Pro-Russian candidate leads Romanian poll ahead of May election
03:00 , Andy Gregory
A pro-Russian candidate currently leads the Romanian polls four months before a crucial election in May.
Calin Georgescu, the far-right candidate who opposes Romanian support for Ukraine in its defense against Putin’s invasion, is the voters’ top choice ahead of a re-run of a presidential election.
The European Union state’s top court annulled the initial presidential election two days before the second round of voting, due to allegations of Russian interference.
The election of Georgescu would be a critical blow for Ukraine, which has relied on Romania to export millions of tons of Ukrainian grain through its Black Sea port of Constanta, trained Ukrainian fighter pilots and donated a Patriot air defence battery to Kyiv.
Georgescu is critical of NATO and has praised Romania’s fascist leaders of the 1930s. The EU court said he had benefited from a social media campaign likely orchestrated by Russia - Moscow denied the accusations.
But the latest polls for the first round show Georgescu set to gain 38 percent of the vote, with Crin Antonescu, leader of the pro-European governing coalition, sitting at just 25 percent.
Drones attack city near Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, officials say
02:30 , Andy Gregory
Russia-installed officials in Ukraine’s partly-occupied Zaporizhzhia region have claimed that Ukrainian drones attacked Enerhodar, a city serving the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
“This is a terrorist act,” Russia-installed acting mayor Maksim Pukha told Russia’s RIA news agency, saying civil infrastructure and residential areas had been targeted. “Peaceful residents should in no way be targets of such an attack.”
Each side has accused the other of risking a nuclear catastrophe by attacking the station. Monitors from the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, are permanently stationed at the plant.
Russian court orders Austria’s bank to pay 2 billion euros damages
02:00 , Andy Gregory
A Russian court has ordered Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International to pay €2bn in damages for a collapsed deal.
The ruling is a blow to the largest western bank in Russia, which has made billions in profit during the nearly three years of war in Ukraine.
The bank has provided a payment bridge for Russia’s middle class and companies into the West, but will now be forced to set aside a large sum as it challenges the ruling.
Sat in the courtroom as the ruling was read out were armed men in balaclavas, along with those involved in the case.
“This is a final warning to all Western companies that you cannot do business with Putin’s Russia,” said Helmut Brandstaetter, a liberal Austrian lawmaker in the European Parliament.
