North Korea is reportedly criticizing the US for supplying long-range missiles to Ukraine
North Korea has reportedly criticized the US for supplying Ukraine with long-range missiles, state media KCNA reported on Monday.
Citing a statement from a defense ministry official, KCNA news agency quoted the official as saying that the US “adopted such a harsh policy as to even offer long-range missiles to attack Russian territory to their lackeys in an attempt to turn the tide of the war.” who recently runs against them.”
“The long-range missiles offered by the US will never tip the scales in favor of Ukraine,” the director of the Foreign Military Affairs Department of North Korea’s Ministry of National Defense was quoted as saying in the statement, which was translated by NBC News. .
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during their meeting at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Amur Region on September 13, 2023.
Vladimir Smirnov | Afp | Getty Images
“It is only a matter of time before the world sees the US becoming more vulnerable and Washington’s defeat on the Ukrainian battlefield,” the statement continued, adding that “the US can never defeat the heroic Russian army and people with any last weapon or army. support.”
The comments come after officials said the US provided Ukraine with powerful long-range ballistic missiles for the first time earlier this month. The US-supplied Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, has since been used to strike targets in Russian-held territory. Representative of the National Security Council confirmed they were provided by the US, but said the supplies had not been disclosed earlier for operational security reasons.
Read more from NBC News here: Ukraine uses long-range ATACMS against Russia for the first time
Russia and North Korea have deepened their political and military ties, with Moscow acquiring missiles and artillery shells from Pyongyang, according to US officials. Both have denied that arms transfers have taken place.
— Holly Elliott
Telegram unblocks chatbots used by Ukrainian security services
Ukraine said on Monday that messaging app Telegram had restored access to various chatbots used by Ukraine’s security services to gather information about Russia’s war efforts, after the services were briefly suspended.
Dubai-based Telegram app founded by Russian-born Pavel Durov has blocked a number of bots being used by Ukraine to fight back against a full-scale Russian invasion, Kiev’s GUR military spy agency said in a statement shortly after midnight.
In this illustrative photo, the Streamlabs, TikTok, Twitter, Telegram, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest app icons are displayed on a smartphone screen in Ankara, Turkey on May 11, 2021.
Rasit Aydogan | Anadolu | Getty Images
A Telegram bot is an automated feature that allows app users to submit or request information. Some of the bots run by the Ukrainian government allow people to report the whereabouts of Russian military hardware and personnel inside Ukraine.
GUR had said that “Telegram platform management unreasonably blocked a number of official bots that opposed Russia’s military offensive against Ukraine, including bot (GUR).”
By morning, Ukraine’s Strategic Communications Center said three affected bots, used by Ukraine’s SBU security service, GUR and the digital ministry for the war effort, had been unblocked.
A Telegram spokesperson said the bots were “temporarily disabled due to a false positive but have since been restored,” without elaborating.
Telegram is widely used as a source of information in Ukraine and Russia, and has been a destination for posting and accessing unfiltered information about the war.
— Reuters
Civilian deaths rise amid intensifying Russian bombing, UK says
The number of Ukrainian civilians killed in the war has risen in recent months, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said on Monday, as Russia stepped up its strikes on Ukraine.
In an intelligence briefing on X, the British Ministry of Defense noted recent figures from the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine found that 604 civilians were killed or injured in March 2024.
“This equates to a 20% increase on the previous month,” the UK said, noting that “these deaths are attributable to missile and aerial munitions strikes across Ukraine and increased frontline shelling.”
A man carrying his shopping bags pauses for a moment to inspect the damage to the Artem building caused by Russian shelling in Kiev, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 15, 2022.
Marcus Yam | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images
The report highlighted “increased coordinated strikes on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure with 20 damaged or destroyed sites. 57 children were reported killed, double the previous month, and this was directly attributed to Russia’s use of aerial munitions,” the ministry noted.
The UN stated that, in total, there have been 31,366 civilian casualties in Ukraine (including territory controlled by Ukraine and territory controlled by Russia) since February 24, 2022. The actual number is likely to be much higher, with gathering such data is often difficult and imprecise in wartime.
“These figures highlight the enormous cost of life suffered by Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine,” the UK said.
— Holly Elliott
Polish protesters unblock all crossings to Ukraine, Ukrainian border guard spokesman says
Czech and Polish farmers with their tractors during a protest against EU agricultural policy at the Czech-Polish border crossing Chotebuz-Boguszowice in Chotebuz, Czech Republic on February 22, 2024.
Lucas Campon | Anadolu | Getty Images
Polish protesters unblocked all border crossing points with Ukraine on Monday morning, a spokesman for Ukraine’s border guard said on Ukrainian television.
“Fortunately, we have unblocked all directions on the border with Poland,” border guard spokesman Andriy Demchenko said of the Polish farmers ending the blockade. He added that trucks carrying grain products would still face restrictions.
— Reuters
Ukraine desperate for US military aid to arrive
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy gestures during a press conference on the day of the Ukraine Southeast Europe Summit in Tirana, Albania, February 28, 2024.
Florion Goga | Reuters
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for the speedy delivery of US military aid, saying the supplies, pledged as part of the $61 billion aid package agreed to by the US last week, had not yet arrived.
“We are interacting with our partners at all levels to achieve the level of aid effectiveness needed not only to hold our positions, but also to disrupt Russia’s war plans,” Zelensky said in his late-night speech.
“We are still waiting for the supplies that were promised to Ukraine – we are waiting for exactly the volume and content of the supplies that can change the situation on the battlefield in the interest of Ukraine. And it’s important to implement every agreement we’ve reached – anything that will deliver practical results on the battlefield and boost the morale of everyone on the front lines,” he said.
Zelensky said he spoke with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Sunday and that he “re-emphasized the need for Patriot [air defense] systems, they are needed as soon as possible.”
— Holly Elliott
The situation at the front has “deteriorated”, warns the head of the army of Ukraine
Ukrainian forces have been forced to retreat from several villages in eastern Ukraine as Russian forces advance, the country’s army chief said on Sunday.
“The situation at the front [has] worsened,” Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Colonel Oleksandr Syrskyi, he said on Telegram.
He said the “hardest situation” was in the areas west of Russian-held Maryinka and Avdiivka, a town captured by Russian forces in February, and that he had moved his forces “to new borders” west of the villages of Berdychi, Semenivka . and Novomykhailivka in an effort to prevent casualties.
Ukrainian soldiers board an armored personnel carrier in a field near Chasiv Yar, Donetsk, on April 27, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Genya Savilov | Afp | Getty Images
Russia had deployed four brigades in those areas as it launched offensives, Syrskyi said, and while it had achieved some tactical successes, it had yet to achieve any “operational advantage.”
Syrskyi said the situation was dynamic, with individual positions changing “from hand to hand” several times during the day, saying this “gives rise to an ambiguous understanding of the situation”.
Heavy fighting is taking place in the Chasiv Yar area, near Bakhmut in Donetsk, with Syrskyi saying the area remains one of the “hottest” spots in the war. Ukrainian officials believe Russian forces want to capture the city, which sits on higher ground offering a strategic advantage, before May 9 — the date Russia celebrates the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany.
Russian forces appear to be trying to take advantage of a lack of arms and ammunition supplies from Ukrainian forces before much-needed US supplies arrive after a $61 billion aid package was approved.
Syrskyi noted that Russian forces are “trying to exploit their advantage in air, missiles and the number of artillery ammunition.”
— Holly Elliott
Russia threatens the West with a stern response if they touch its assets
Russian officials threatened the West on Sunday with a “tough” response if frozen Russian assets were seized, promising “endless” legal challenges and objective measures.
The full moon rises over the Russian Foreign Ministry building in Moscow, Russia on July 3, 2023.
Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia would never cede territory seized from Ukraine in exchange for the return of frozen assets, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a separate comment that there was still a lot of Western money in Russia which could be targeted by Moscow’s countermeasures.
— Reuters