Russia-Ukraine war live: Slovakia halts military aid to Ukraine; North Korea becoming ‘significant’ arms supplier to Moscow

Slovakia halts military aid to Ukraine

Jon Henley

Slovakia’s new populist prime minister, Robert Fico, has said his three-party coalition government was ending military aid to its eastern neighbour Ukraine, fulfilling one of his central campaign pledges.

Fico told MPs on Thursday before heading to a summit of EU leaders in Brussels that Slovakia would “no longer supply weapons to Ukraine”, but would continue to send humanitarian aid to its war-torn neighbour.

“I will support zero military aid to Ukraine … An immediate halt to military operations is the best solution we have for Ukraine. The EU should change from an arms supplier to a peacemaker,” the new prime minister added.

He also said he would “not vote for any sanctions against Russia unless we see analyses of their impact on Slovakia. If there are to be such sanctions that will harm us, like most sanctions have, I can see no reason to support them.”

The country had previously been a staunch supporter of Kyiv since Russia’s invasion February last year, donating ammunition and weaponry its fleet of Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets, and opening its borders for refugees fleeing the war.

The previous caretaker government suspended military aid earlier this month after Fico’s Smer-SD party won a 30 September election on a pledge to halt further supplies, oppose sanctions on Moscow and block Ukraine’s potential Nato membership.

Fico, who was forced to resign in 2018 amid huge popular protests after the murder of an investigative journalist and his fiancee, was formally sworn in on Wednesday as Slovakia’s prime minister, his fourth stint in the office.

Analysts expect the country to move closer to the nationalist policies of Hungary, whose illiberal leader, Viktor Orbán, Fico has said he admires – although many question how far he will follow through on his campaign rhetoric.

Smer finished first in last month’s ballot with 23% of the vote and formed a coalition with Hlas, a more moderate breakaway party led by Fico’s former deputy Peter Pellegrini, and the ultra-nationalist, pro-Russian Slovak National party (SNS).

Pjotr Sauer

The Kremlin on Thursday said it hoped to receive more “information” from Armenia after the Armenian prime minister said he saw “no advantage” in continuing to host Russian military bases on its territory.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, the Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan said his country was looking to “diversify our relationship in the security spheres”, because Moscow had failed to live up to its commitments as a security guarantor when Azerbaijan retook the contested region of Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Ties between Russia and Armenia had been badly damaged by the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine and Azerbaijan’s recapture of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Thursday that it was “not good for Russia and Armenia to communicate through newspapers, especially the Wall Street Journal.”

Russia, with a military base in Armenia, has long been its security guarantor, including managing tensions over Nagorno-Karabakh, but as Azerbaijan launched its offensive on the mountainous breakaway region, Moscow made clear its troops had no intention of intervening.

Distracted by the ongoing war in Ukraine, the Kremlin has been losing its grip on its traditional sphere of influence.

• Ukraine has suspended the use of its new Black Sea grain corridor due to what it sees as military risks, the Kyiv-based Barva Invest consultancy has said.

• In its latest intelligence update, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has reiterated some of the points western nations have been trying to claim about North Korea delivering arms to Russia for use in Ukraine. The MoD wrote: “Despite Russia’s official rejection of recent reports, it is almost certain that North Korean munitions have now reached ammunition depots in western Russia. These depots support Russian military operations in Ukraine.”

• South Korea, Japan and the US have strongly condemned the supply of arms and military equipment by North Korea to Russia, saying they have confirmed “several” deliveries.

• Ukraine has claimed it is continuing to fend off attempts by Russian forces to encircle Avdiivka in Donetsk oblast. A spokesperson for the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine, Andriy Kovaliov, was quoted as saying: “In the Avdiivka direction, the enemy does not stop trying to encircle Avdiivka, actively uses aviation, but our soldiers are firmly holding the defence and inflicting significant losses on the enemy.”

The UK’s Ministry of Defence has issued its intelligence breifing about Ukraine for the day, and it reiterates some of the points western nations have been trying to claim about North Korea delivering arms to Russia for use in Ukraine. It writes:

Despite Russia’s official rejection of recent reports, it is almost certain that North Korean munitions have now reached ammunition depots in western Russia. These depots support Russian military operations in Ukraine.

If North Korea sustains the recent scale and pace of military-related shipments (more than 1,000 containers over the last several weeks), it will be on course to become one of Russia’s most significant foreign arms suppliers, alongside Iran and Belarus.

It is currently unclear what Russia has agreed to provide North Korea in return. It is unlikely the full package has been finalised; it was highly likely one of the primary discussion topics during recent senior level Russian visits to North Korea.

It will likely include a mixture of financial compensation, other economic support, the provision of military technology, and cooperation on other high technology areas, such as space.

Ukraine claims it continues to fend off attempts by Russian forces to encircle Avdiivka in Donetsk oblast.

The state news agency Ukrinform quotes a spokesperson for the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine Andriy Kovaliov saying on Ukrainian television:

In the Avdiivka direction, the enemy does not stop trying to encircle Avdiivka, actively uses aviation, but our soldiers are firmly holding the defence and inflicting significant losses on the enemy.

Donetsk is one of four regons of Ukraine which the Russian Federation claimed to have annexed late last year.

The spokesperson claimed that in the last 24 hours Ukraine’s air force had launched seven strikes on enemy manpower clusters. He claimed that missiles hit three enemy ammunition depots, six artillery units and one air defence radar station. He also stated that offensive operations have continued in the Melitopol sector, which he said had weakened the enemy along the entire frontline there.

Earlier, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, posted a video on social media showing what purported to be footage of successful Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian targets. He said:

“Our drone strikes on military targets. Thank you, warriors, for your accuracy! Keep it up!”

Warren Murray

An EU leaders’ summit in Brussels today will be their first in-person meeting since the 7 October assault on Israel by Hamas terrorists, which prompted Israel to bombard and blockade Hamas-run Gaza.

Charles Michel, president of the European Council of EU leaders, wrote in an invitation letter to the summit: “These developments require our immediate attention, without distracting us from our continued support to Ukraine.”

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, will address the summit by video link and support for Kyiv will have first place in the summit declaration. The EU and its member countries have provided billions of euros in assistance to Ukraine since Russian forces invaded in February last year.

But some officials and diplomats have voiced fears that Ukraine may struggle to maintain the same political attention and resources from the west, particularly the US, due to the new crisis in the Middle East.

The summit will not be able to sign off on multi-year plans for €50bn in financial aid and up €20bn euros for military aid for Ukraine, as they are part of a broader budget battle that officials hope to conclude by year’s end. Leaders will instead have their first debate on that budget package, which diplomats expect to be contentious.

Anger at ‘confirmed’ supply of North Korean weapons to Putin

Warren Murray

South Korea, Japan and the US have strongly condemned the supply of arms and military equipment by North Korea to Russia, saying they have confirmed “several” deliveries.

The Reuters news agency’s bureau in Seoul reports that Russia and North Korea have denied the transfer of arms for use in Russia’s war against Ukraine amid reports that Washington and researchers said showed movement of vessels carrying containers likely with weapons between the two countries’ ports.

While it was not possible to confirm the contents of the shipments, reports said containers from the North were later seen delivered to a Russian munitions storage facility near the border with Ukraine.

“The Republic of Korea, United States, and Japan strongly condemn the provision of military equipment and munitions by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to the Russian Federation for use against the government and people of Ukraine,” the statement said.

“Such weapons deliveries, several of which we now confirm have been completed, will significantly increase the human toll of Russia’s war of aggression,” the statement issued by the foreign ministers of the three countries said.

North Korea is seeking military assistance from Russia to advance its own military capabilities in return for its arms support for Moscow, the statement said.

“We are monitoring closely for any materials that Russia provides to the DPRK in support of Pyongyang’s military objectives,” it said, adding any arms transaction with North Korea violated multiple UN security council resolutions that Moscow itself voted for.

North Korea and Russia pledged closer military cooperation when their leaders met in September in Russia’s far east. The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, met the North Korean ruler, Kim Jong-un, a few days ago and discussed implementing the agreements made at the summit.

Opening summary …

Warren Murray

Hello, welcome to our live updates as we mark 610 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Here is a recap covering the last 24 hours or so.

• The governments of the US, South Korea and Tokyo have condemned what they say are multiple confirmed shipments of North Korean arms for Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine.

• European Union leaders meet on Thursday to grapple with the conflict between Israel and Hamas while also aiming to show continuing support for Ukraine in its war against Russia’s invasion.

• Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine is preparing for renewed Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure ahead of the second winter of Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of the country – and that the country is ready to counterattack if targeted. “We are preparing for terrorist attacks on our energy infrastructure,” Zelenskiy said. “This year we will not only defend ourselves, but also respond.”

• Russia claims it has tested its ability to deliver a retaliatory nuclear strike in an exercise involving the launch of missiles by land, sea and air. News of the exercise was delivered on Russian state TV by the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu.

• The exercise followed Russia’s parliament completing the passing of a law that withdraws Moscow’s ratification of the global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests. Russia’s upper house, the Federation Council, approved the law by 156 votes to zero earlier today after the lower house, the Duma, had also passed it unanimously. Russia says it is revoking its withdrawal of the treaty only to bring itself in line with the US, which signed but never ratified the same document.

• Russia’s military claimed on Wednesday that its air defence forces had shot down two long-range US-made ATACM missiles fired by Ukraine at Russian targets in what state media said was the first downing of its kind. Russia’s defence ministry reported the interception in one of its regular updates on the war in Ukraine, something Moscow still calls “a special military operation.” It did not provide further details. The Reuters news agency was unable to independently verify Moscow’s claim and there was no immediate comment from Kyiv or Washington.

• A drone attack by Russia near Ukraine’s Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant temporarily cut power to some off-site radiation monitoring stations, the International Atomic Energy Agency said. “This incident again underlines the extremely precarious nuclear safety situation in Ukraine,” said the IAEA’s director general, Rafael Mariano Grossi.

• In his nightly address, Zelenskiy accused Russia of targeting the power plant. “It is most likely that the target for these drones was the Khmelnytskyi nuclear power station. The shockwave from the explosion shattered windows, including on the nuclear power station’s premises,” he said.

• The attack involved 11 Shahed drones and injured 16 people according to local authorities. Power lines were also damaged, with two towns close to the nuclear power plant, Netishyn and Slavuta, facing power cuts. Ukraine’s air force said it stopped all the drones that were launched.

• Russian forces are disregarding heavy losses and pressing on with a drive to capture the eastern city of Avdiivka, Ukrainian officials have claimed. “The enemy is trying to move forward and then we beat them back,” Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern groups of forces, said on national TV. Russia has focused on the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk since failing in its initial drive on the capital Kyiv after mounting its invasion in February 2022.

• Ukraine said it was aiming to increase domestic manufacture of its own drones, producing tens of thousands every month by the end of the year. Kyiv has relied heavily on foreign-made drones in the war so far, but is looking to ramp up its output despite the challenge posed by Russia’s invasion.