After attending school in Finland and later the U.S., Belgium and the U.K., Stubb entered politics in 2004 as a member of the European Parliament. He hit the Finnish big time in 2008 when — to his own surprise — he was named foreign minister.
Praised by allies for his high-energy approach to politics, he was also criticized during his time in government for his occasionally hasty statements, and was forced to apologize after being accused of swearing at a meeting of the Nordic Council, a regional cooperation body.
During a difficult year as prime minister in 2014 he failed to reverse his NCP’s declining popularity, and lost a parliamentary election in 2015 amid an economic slump. After a subsequent spell as finance minister he quit Finnish politics in 2017, vowing never to return.
During the five-month presidential election campaign, observers say, Stubb earned the support of voters by demonstrating a calmer and more thoughtful demeanor during debates than had been his custom, and for being at pains to show respect for his rivals.
“However this election goes, it will be good for Finland,” he said in a debate with Haavisto earlier last week.
Stubb has said he intends to be a unifying force in Finnish society, something the country appears to need after a series of racism scandals involving government ministers and, more recently, strikes over work conditions and wages that paralyzed public services.
A BRUTAL attack by Russian drones has resulted in apocalypse-like carnage across Ukraine’s second-largest city.
Three children, aged seven, four, and six months, were among seven people killed as fires erupted and at least 15 houses were destroyed.
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Russian drone strikes spark disaster at a former recreation centre and hotel in KharkivCredit: East2West
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Some 15 homes have been destroyedCredit: East2West
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A family was ‘burned alive’, held hostage by the fire inside their houseCredit: East2West
Vladimir Putin‘s forces are understood to have struck a petrol station overnight, triggering a “river of fire” in the city of Kharkiv.
The three children and two adults were “burned alive” following the strikes, which involved Iranian-designed drones deployed by Russia.
Chief investigator Serhiy Bolvinov said the family of five was “held hostage by the fire inside their own house”.
He said: “The man’s body is in the corridor of the house, the mother and the children tried to save themselves in the bathroom.
Read more on the Ukraine war
“We do not yet know where the baby’s body is. The search is underway.”
Loved ones related to the victims have been asked for DNA to assist in identifying them.
More than 50 people were rescued from the flames of the savage Russian attack in the urban district of Nemyshlyanskyi in Kharkiv.
A witness, Andrii Kruglo, recalled: “Everything exploded and started running like a river. A burning river. I was covered in diesel fuel.
“It was running down the street and setting houses on fire. We tried to put the fire out, extinguished it with our hands, with snow, as much as we could.”
Kharkiv mayor Igor Terekhov claimed that Russia’s Iranian-made drones, “Shaheds”, struck a petrol station, causing burning fuel to spill out and set fire to dozens of homes.
Russia launches massive missile attack on Ukraine after Putin vowed ‘revenge’ hitting hospital, mall and homes
Three drones were used in the attack, according to regional prosecutor Oleksandr Filachkov.
He said: “As a result, an object of critical infrastructure was destroyed.
“There was a large amount of fuel, which is why the consequences of the fire were so terrible.”
It follows an attack last month involving strategic bombers and hypersonic Kinzhal missiles which left five people dead in Ukraine.
Russian air force planes flew over “safe” territory in the city of Zmiiv, also in Kharkiv, and launched a wave of missiles at Ukrainian civilian targets such as shopping centres and homes.
Twenty-four people including five children were wounded in the attacks, with the body of a 63-year-old woman found under the rubble of a house.
Kharkiv locals fear Ukraine is running low on air defences and is struggling to hold back on Russian attacks, particularly in the eastern part of the region.
Ukraine’s ambassador to the US, Oksana Markarova, called on American lawmakers to deliver military aid to Ukraine as quickly as possible, telling Bloomberg that the war-torn country is “running out of equipment, especially missiles and interceptors.”
An unnamed US official told Politico: “It gives them a deeper strike capability they haven’t had, it complements their long-range fire arsenal.
“It’s just an extra arrow in the quiver that’s gonna allow them to do more.”
Co-developed by Boeing and Saab, the weapon comprises a precision-guided 250lb bomb strapped to a rocket motor that can be fired from various ground launchers.
The new “glide-bomb” will allow Ukraine’s military to hit targets at twice the distance the country’s rockets can currently reach.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky told The Sun in an exclusive interview in November that Ukraine was in desperate need of more air defence systems to shoot down Russian missiles and drones.
He insisted Ukraine would fight on, but warned victory would only be possible with the continued support of allies like the UK, Europe, and the US.
In what was believed to be the biggest aerial attack on Ukraine since the beginning of the bloody war, a total of 158 missiles and countless drone strikes hit homes, a maternity hospital, and a shopping mall.
A dozen houses have been incinerated to the groundCredit: East2West
The latest on the Ukraine war
AFTER almost two years, the war in Ukraine continues to rumble on as fears of an all-out World War Three between Russia and the West keep on going.
Since the beginning of the war, Russia has lost approximately 385,230 personnel, 6,310 tanks, and 11,757 armoured combat vehicles, Ukrainian army officials said.
Putin’s army also reportedly lost 9,195 artillery units, 974 multiple launch rocket systems, 663 air defence systems, 332 warplanes, and 324 helicopters.
The list goes on – 7,100 drones, 1,846 cruise missiles, 23 warships, 1 submarine, 12,231 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 1,452 units of special equipment.
In another major scalp for Ukraine, two of Putin’s most crucial spy planes worth £290million were shot down last month.
One of the Russian dictator’s £260million spy planes disappeared and a £30million bomber jet was set on fire after Ukrainian forces shot them out of the sky above the Azov Sea.
However, despite Ukraine’s success Russia has no plans to slow down in their assaults.
Earlier this month, Putin gathered 40,000 troops, 500 tanks and hundreds of howitzer artillery guns to unleash hell on Kupyansk.
On January 15, a leaked military report revealed Putin’s possible step-by-step plan to bring the West to the brink of World War 3.
The secret docs detail the despot’s possible “path to conflict” which reaches its climax in the summer of 2025 on “Day X” when half a million Nato and Russian soldiers will face each other.
According to reports, Putin is desperate to secure a significant victory before the rubber-stamp elections in March that are all but certain to secure his brutal reign over Russia until at least 2030.
A TOP secret military project hiding a spiralling network of sub-zero tunnels and nuclear warheads may be the only place on Earth you could “survive World War Three”.
Ominous warnings from Russia, missile strikes in the Middle East, unease in China and tensions brought up by the Israel-Hamas conflict have taken the world into “a new era” of international relations.
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‘Project Iceworm’ was the hidden base from where the US planned to launch nuclear missiles against RussiaCredit: W Robert Moore/National Geographic/Getty Images
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The underground labyrinth still exists to this day and can home 200 peopleCredit: W Robert Moore/National Geographic/Getty Images
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An aerial shot of the campCredit: U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory via University of Zurich
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Many fear the crisis in Ukraine could still develop, with officials warning it could see the bloodiest conflict in Europe since WW2 if resulting in nuclear war.
And Iran’s terror proxies – including Hezbollah and the Houthis – have already gone up against Israel, the US and UK.
But one secret underground labyrinth of tunnels could prove to be the safest place to hideout if global conflict erupts.
Project Iceworm key points
Project Iceworm was a top secret United States Army program of the Cold War, which aimed to build a network of mobile nuclear missile launch sites under the Greenland ice sheet.
The end goal was to install a vast network of nuclear missile launch sites that could survive a first strike.
The missiles, which could strike targets within the Soviet Union, were never fielded
A highly publicised “cover” project, known as Camp Century, was launched in 1960
The US army engineering corps excavated Camp Century in 1959 around 200km (124 miles) from the coast of Greenland, which was then a county of Denmark.
The camp’s three-kilometre network of tunnels, eight metres beneath the ice, housed laboratories, a shop, a hospital, a cinema, a chapel and accommodation for as many as 200 soldiers.
Unstable ice conditions within the ice sheet caused the project to be cancelled in 1966.
Codenamed Project Iceworm, it was built as the US planned to store hundreds of ballistic missiles which could be launched to strike targets inside the USSR.
The colossal building, also known as Camp Century for cover, was buried deep beneath the surface ice on the remote Danish territory of Greenland.
The US was so secretive, the Danish – who governed Greenland before it was given autonomy in 1979 – didn’t even know what lay beneath.
However, the doomsday plans were shelved in 1966 due to shifting ice.
By then, nearly two miles of tunnels had been completed, containing a hospital, a shop, a theatre and a church for the facility’s 200 inhabitants.
Engineers realised the constantly moving ice was too unstable and would have deformed and perhaps even collapsed the tunnels.
Brits face conscription if UK goes to war with Russia because ‘military is too small’, Army chief warns amid WW3 threat
Known as “the city under the ice”, the camp’s three-kilometre network of tunnels remains nestled in a wilderness of ice and snow.
American officials pretended that they were conducting a polar research project at the time.
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The plan was to create 2,500 miles of tunnels, covering an area of 52,000 square milesCredit: YouTube
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Incredible video shows US Army Engineers on site building the facilityCredit: YouTube
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The US army would use those tunnels to move missiles so the Soviets had no idea where they were
Army researchers did perform some science, including drilling the first ice core to the base of the Greenland ice sheet.
And incredible footage from the time shows soldiers surveying the site before construction workers move in to begin work on the colossal structure.
The narrator states: “Camp Century is buried below the surface of this ice cap. Beneath it, the ice descends for 6,000 feet.
“In this remote setting, less than 800 miles from the North Pole, Camp Century is a symbol of man’s unceasing goal to conquer his environment, to increase his ability to live and fight if necessary under polar conditions.”
From 1964 it was used only intermittently, and three years later it was abandoned altogether, the departing soldiers taking the reaction chamber of the nuclear generator with them.
Ukraine has fought back courageously ever since and continued to defy the odds by defending itself against Russian onslaughts with the help of Western military aid.
WASHINGTON—In an address from the White House carried live on television, President Joe Biden gave the nation the nuclear launch codes Monday in case anything were ever to happen to him. “Folks, I don’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon, but the fact is, I’m not always going to be around, and you need to be prepared to oversee our long-range and tactical nuclear weapons on that day,” said the commander-in-chief, who added that he had been holding onto the highly classified sequence of letters and numbers until he thought the nation was ready to responsibly operate its arsenal of 5,244 warheads. “Just write the codes somewhere safe so you don’t lose them. Because, listen, if I have to go away, you’re the president, understand? All of you are. Okay, you ready? The code is 3X52-4980.” At press time, the American public had reportedly launched an intercontinental ballistic missile at East Timor.
“We have been saying this a long time,” he said on a visit to Brussels. “I have been here three times before and always we said if we didn’t do this … the Houthis will never stop. The Houthis have an ideology, have a project. Iran has a project in the region and unfortunately, the others do not respond.”
He expressed frustration that the EU and U.S. spent years pouring their diplomatic energies into wooing Tehran for a nuclear deal, rather than exerting more pressure on the Islamic Republic to stop supporting their Houthi allies, fellow Shi’ite Muslims who were seeking to impose what he labeled a “theocratic, totalitarian” police state.
The idea behind the nuclear talks was that Tehran should limit its nuclear ambitions in return for sanctions relief, but an accord proved out of reach.
No one paid attention
Bin Mubarak noted international momentum for action — which has included U.S. and British strikes on Houthi targets — did not finally come about “because of what [the Houthis] did to the Yemenis. They killed thousands of Yemenis. Not because of the atrocities they committed, raping women … jailing women … Just look at what Houthis did. No one is paying attention.”
He explained Western diplomacy toward Iran was supposed to have focused on three elements: the nuclear program, Tehran’s support for regional proxies, and its ballistic missile program. The fixation on the first, to the detriment of the other two, means the West is now facing an adversary in Yemen that has been very well armed by Iran, bin Mubarak complained.
“[Iran’s] Shahed drones, the first time we started hearing the European Union talking about it, they were being used in Ukraine. But before that, for years, we were saying Iran is supplying Houthis and drones are attacking Yemeni people. No one was believing [it],” he continued, adding that Houthi drone strikes stopped Yemeni oil exports in October 2022.
Hawaiians respond to a threat of nuclear attack and a survivor tells of coping with the Hiroshima bombing.
It is 41 minutes and 40 seconds to midnight in Honolulu. Heat rises from the asphalt in Hawaii’s capital. It is a beautiful day and people are out for strolls and running errands. Suddenly, sounds of sirens cut through the air. TV broadcasts, radio shows, and mobile phones are flooded with the following message: “Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill.” Panic descends throughout the island. Thousands of goodbye messages to loved ones are sent – even ones containing dramatic declarations or confessions. It took authorities almost one hour to let people know this was an error. We hear from people who tell us how they coped with the frightening events of this day in 2018.
We also hear of the harrowing experience of surviving an actual nuclear attack. Toshiko Tanaka was six years old when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on her city of Hiroshima. “I remember the horror of that day: blinding light like thousands of strobe lights, my body thrown to the ground.” The atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 were the only time nuclear weapons have been used. Today, about 120,000 Hibakusha – survivors of the bombings – are still alive. Tanaka tells us of her life as one of these survivors, and of the work those bombings inspired her to do. She is 84 years old now and has dedicated her life to fighting against nuclear proliferation.
While the scale and target of Biden’s promised response is not yet clear, any unilateral move is likely to draw blowback from key allies in the Middle East who worry about sparking a regional war.
Turkey, a key NATO ally, has denounced Israel’s campaign in Gaza, while President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has accused the U.K. and the U.S. of trying to turn the Red Sea into a “sea of blood.”
“Turkey does not want to be drawn into this conflict because it shares a border with Iran,” said Selin Nasi, a visiting fellow at the European Institute of the London School of Economics. “If the U.S. as its main ally in NATO gets involved in this military conflict directly then Turkey has to choose a side, and that will mean it’s harder to maintain a balanced approach — like it has done with the war in Ukraine.”
The challenge for Biden is how to retaliate without risking escalation by Iran and its partners in the region. Conversely, doing nothing — especially after having said he would avenge the deaths of the three U.S. soldiers — would leave him vulnerable to a charge of weakness from Trump.
“Iran’s leadership probably calculates that the United States will be reticent to fulsomely respond in any manner that would risk escalation of tensions in the Middle East and spark the region-wide [conflict] the Biden administration has admirably tried to prevent the past three months,” said Jonathan Panikoff, a former U.S. deputy national intelligence officer.
But the U.S. may have “to undertake a more fulsome response to restore deterrence,” he added.
Jamie Dettmer, Jeremy Van der Haegen and Laura Kayali contributed reporting.
Ukraine has promised to reply to the Moscow charge that it killed its own people on board the Russian plane – but only after it had examined all the evidence.
But OSINT sources and analysts pointed to striking inconsistencies in the Russian claims.
ARTIFICIAL Intelligence has predicted the chilling factors that could spark an apocalyptic World War Three – changing the world as we know it.
ChatGPT revealed eight horrific scenarios that could force world leaders to wage wars across the globe – leading to the deaths of millions.
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AI has revealed the eight horrific scenarios that could lead to World War ThreeCredit: Getty
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Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has put everyone at risk of a third World WarCredit: Getty
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Xi Jinping’s territorial disputes in the South China Sea could potentially lead to a massive international conflictCredit: AFP
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An Israeli army tank rolling alongside the border with the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas warCredit: AFP
The Sun gave ChatGPT a prompt and asked what could possibly lead to a third global war.
The AI – which runs on advanced machine learning – predicted eight different factors which could cause the situation to spiral out of control.
ChatGPT started its predictions by saying: “It’s important to note that this is purely speculative, and real-world events are influenced by numerous unpredictable variables.”
The clever bot added: “The goal should always be to promote peaceful resolutions and international cooperation to prevent the outbreak of global conflicts.
“In reality, the international community generally works towards diplomatic solutions and conflict prevention.”
It then, however, offered a fascinating list of factors that could contribute to the outbreak of a global conflict.
ChatGPT wrote: “In a hypothetical scenario, World War 3 could potentially start due to a combination of complex geopolitical, economic, and social factors.”
TERRITORIAL DISPUTES
The wars in Ukraine and Gaza, as well as the rising tensions in Korea and China are often described as territorial disputes at their core.
Over the years they have become more and more complex – but the fight over land both sides claim is theirs has grown bloody.
ChatGPT believes if these disputes over land continue to escalate it could tip the scales just enough to spark another world war – or even several around the globe.
China’s illegal claim over Taiwan is one such instance that could see sparks fly.
The communist regime could launch a full-blown invasion to absorb Taiwan into the Chinese mainland.
According to the ChatGPT, the rise of nationalist or populist leaders promoting aggressive foreign policies might contribute to increased tensions and breakdowns in peaceful communication.
Nationalism contributed to the major alliances in the 20th century that played a role in World War One – France and Russia felt insecure about the rise of Germany and teamed up, while the Ottoman Empire felt intimidated by Russia and ended up siding with Germany.
In the current climate, America – the world superpower – feels threatened by the rise of China, fearing it could become the next great power of the world.
This has resulted in hostile relations between the two nations which could, in a worst case scenario, turn into a major war.
Similarly, Russian insecurity around NATO – a military alliance of very powerful countries around the globe – could be dangerous.
In the increasing hostile situation, America and Europe will see themselves as allies working against regimes like North Korea, China and Russia.
ChatGPT argues that populist leaders could undermine international institutions and alliances, weakening the mechanisms in place for diplomatic resolutions and cooperation.
This can result in a lack of effective communication and collaboration, increasing the chances of misunderstandings and conflicts.
FAILED DIPLOMACY
ChatGPT says repeated failures in diplomatic efforts to resolve international conflicts could erode trust between nations and create a hostile environment.
Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine occurred despite the West’s diplomatic efforts to stop it.
And Israel’s unprecedented attack against Hamas in Gaza escalated even after repeated efforts of international players trying to tackle the situation diplomatically.
Failed diplomacy in more vulnerable situations that involve greater risks could lead to major cross-border conflicts with millions dying across the globe.
TECHNOLOGICAL ARMS RACE
A race for advanced military tech, such as artificial intelligence, autonomous weapons, or advanced weaponry, could lead to another arms race.
If a country thinks another’s technological advancements pose a potential threat, it could respond by increasing its own military capabilities, inadvertently escalating tensions.
The Nuclear Arms Race in the 20th century between the US and the USSR sparked the Cold War – and an apocalyptic conflict between the two superpowers almost became a reality.
ChatGPT also believes that fears of falling behind in technology might lead nations to attack each other out of fear.
PROXY WARS
Ongoing regional conflicts where major powers are working as sponsors could escalate into broader wars, pulling more nations into the fray, the AI has warned.
According to ChatGPT, stakeholders could leverage proxy groups and other sponsors to cause major war flashpoints.
Since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, Iran has been fostering terrorism to create conflict in the Middle East through its proxy groups such as Hezbollah and the Houthis.
This forced major world powers such as the UK and the US to join the conflict, increasing fears that the regional situation could turn into an all-out war.
RESOURCE SCARCITY
ChatGPT suggests that intense competition for essential resources, such as water, oil, or rare minerals, could also be very dangerous.
According to the AI chatbot, conflicts over natural resources arise when different nations can’t agree about who they belong to, where they should be sent, how to protect them and how to use them.
The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) reports that at least 40 per cent of all intrastate conflicts (conflicts between countries) in the past 60 years have had a link to natural resources.
And the AI believes it could trigger major cross-border conflicts in the future.
ECONOMIC TURMOIL
A severe global economic crisis would also create instability and trigger political unrest, potentially leading to conflicts as nations struggle to secure their interests, the AI bot claims.
The chatbot also argues that the prolonged economic crisis in the era of globalisation could be enough reason for nations to resort to military operations.
According to the World Economic Forum, the next big international economic crisis, such as a global recession, could well spark World War Three.
CYBER WARFARE
ChatGPT believes that escalating cyber attacks could lead to widespread distrust and retaliation among nations, escalating into a full-scale war.
At times like these when generative AI could be easily leveraged to create widespread propaganda, cyber warfare remains one the biggest threat to world peace.
Nations engaged in ongoing conflicts could deploy intense propaganda against the rival state and could severely escalate the situation, which could attract other ally nations and turn into a major global war.
What makes cyber warfare even more dangerous is that such digital attacks don’t have to be state-sponsored – and even players not involved in conflicts could leverage propaganda warfare to spark tensions between other countries.
The ‘real’ danger of WW3 starting
WITH several ongoing world conflicts, the looming threat of nuclear warfare has sparked fears that WW3 could soon be a reality if we aren’t careful.
UKRAINE is set to unveil its latest underwater robot drone that will target Putin’s Black Sea fleet in a bid to turn the tide of the war.
Project FURY, which stands for First Ukrainian Robotic Navy, will be presented at Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense’s “Offensive of Machines” Hackathon.
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An artist’s impression of a new deadly underwater drone set to be unveiled by Ukraine
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Ukraine has caused major damage in the Black Sea thanks to its unmanned surface vehicle dubbed “Sea Baby”Credit: EAST2WEST
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The “Sea Baby” was used to blow up Putin’s Crimean Bridge in July last yearCredit: EAST2WEST
The stealth AUV(Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) is still in development but will make its first public appearance on Sunday.
The drone will be used as a platform for a range of missions and will be able to carry mines, torpedoes, or submarine-launched missiles, according to submarine expert H I Sutton.
It’s possible that the AUV could also be fitted with a range of sensors to carry out intelligence missions.
While its specifications are currently under wraps, Project FURY will partner with an experienced AUV manufacturer in the West to weaponise an already existing platform.
Ukraine has seen a lot of success launching Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) putting them one step ahead of the Kremlin’s Black Sea Fleet.
The £335,000 Marichka is said to be immune to Russian radio-electronic warfare systems, meaning the pricey weapon is “invisible to the enemy”.
But after numerous attacks, Russia is getting better at countering USV attacks, and without innovation, Vlad’s troops could regain superiority, warns H I Sutton.
Ukraine’s Vice Admiral Oleksii Neizhpapa said: “Some of our tricks and tactics that were worked out in 2022 and 2023 will not work in 2024.
“Therefore, you need to change tactics, change the technical characteristics of everything you do.”
USVs are vulnerable to aircraft and an underwater unmanned drone could be the answer – but what sets Project FURY apart is that it’s not a completely new drone.
While AUVs are more expensive they are reusable and stealth and have the added advantage of surprise as well as needing no personnel to run.
AUVs will be harder to counter and can carry out missions that are not possible with USVs, warns the sub expert.
Ukraine is not the first country to look at developing unmanned underwater drones.
In December, Boeing unveiled its Extra-Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle dubbed Orca – measuring 52ft long and 8ft wide.
The Kronos submarine was also developed by a team of Ukrainian engineers at UAE company Highlands Systems to carry out rescue missions – but it can also carry six Black Scorpion torpedoes.
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Another artist’s impression has revealed what the new Project FURY could look likeCredit: Naval News
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The “Sea Baby” can carry up to 850kg of explosives and is made from its body is made from a material invisible to radars
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Ukraine also has the Marichka underwater kamikaze drone in its arsenal – capable of carrying 1,000lbs of explosivesCredit: East2West
JERUSALEM — Iran said Saturday it had conducted a successful satellite launch into its highest orbit yet, the latest for a program the West fears improves Tehran’s ballistic missiles.
The announcement comes as heightened tensions grip the wider Middle East over Israel’s continued war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and just days after Iran and Pakistan engaged in tit-for-tat airstrikes in each others’ countries.
Meanwhile Saturday, the U.S. conducted new strikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who have been targeting shipping in the Red Sea over the war, and Iranian-backed militias in Iraq struck a base housing U.S. troops, wounding several personnel.
The Iranian Soraya satellite was placed in an orbit at some 750 kilometers (460 miles) above the Earth’s surface with its three-stage Qaem 100 rocket, the state-run IRNA news agency said. It did not immediately acknowledge what the satellite did, though telecommunications minister Isa Zarepour described the launch as having a 50-kilogram (110-pound) payload.
The launch was part of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ space program alongside Iran’s civilian space program, the report said.
Footage released by Iranian media showed the rocket blast off from a mobile launcher, a religious verse referring to Shiite Islam’s 12th hidden imam written on its side.
An Associated Press analysis of the footage suggested the launch happened at the Guard’s launch pad on the outskirts of the city of Shahroud, some 350 kilometers (215 miles) east of the capital, Tehran. Iran’s three latest successful satellite launches have all happened at the site.
There was no independent confirmation Iran had successfully put the satellite in orbit. The U.S. military and the State Department did not respond to a request for comment.
The United States has previously said Iran’s satellite launches defy a U.N. Security Council resolution and called on Tehran to undertake no activity involving ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. U.N. sanctions related to Iran’s ballistic missile program expired last October.
Under Iran’s relatively moderate former President Hassan Rouhani, the Islamic Republic slowed its space program for fear of raising tensions with the West. Hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, a protégé of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who came to power in 2021, has pushed the program forward.
The U.S. intelligence community’s 2023 worldwide threat assessment said the development of satellite launch vehicles “shortens the timeline” for Iran to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile because it uses similar technology.
Intercontinental ballistic missiles can be used to deliver nuclear weapons. Iran is now producing uranium close to weapons-grade levels after the collapse of its nuclear deal with world powers. Tehran has enough enriched uranium for “several” nuclear weapons, if it chooses to produce them, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency repeatedly has warned.
Iran has always denied seeking nuclear weapons and says its space program, like its nuclear activities, is for purely civilian purposes. However, U.S. intelligence agencies and the IAEA say Iran had an organized military nuclear program up until 2003.
The involvement of the Guard in the launches, as well as it being able to launch the rocket from a mobile launcher, raise concerns for the West. The Guard, which answers only to Khamenei, revealed its space program back in 2020.
Over the past decade, Iran has sent several short-lived satellites into orbit and in 2013 launched a monkey into space. The program has seen recent troubles, however. There have been five failed launches in a row for the Simorgh program, another satellite-carrying rocket.
A fire at the Imam Khomeini Spaceport in February 2019 killed three researchers, authorities said at the time. A launchpad rocket explosion later that year drew the attention of then-President Donald Trump, who taunted Iran with a tweet showing what appeared to be a U.S. surveillance photo of the site.
In December, Iran sent a capsule into orbit capable of carrying animals as it prepares for human missions in the coming years.
Meanwhile Saturday, the U.S. military’s Central Command said it “conducted airstrikes against a Houthi anti-ship missile that was aimed into the Gulf of Aden and was prepared to launch.”
“U.S. forces determined the missile presented a threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region, and subsequently struck and destroyed the missile in self-defense,” a Central Command statement said. “This action will make international waters safer and more secure for U.S. Navy and merchant vessels.”
The Iranian-backed Houthis did not immediately acknowledge this seventh round of strikes. The rebels have been targeting shipping since November in what they describe as an effort to stop the Israel-Hamas war. However, their targets have increasingly tenuous — or no — ties to Israel or the conflict.
In Iraq, a coalition of militias calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq announced it had launched a missile salvo Saturday at al-Asad airbase in the west of the country that is used by the U.S. military, the latest in a series of attacks by the group on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria.
The Central Command confirmed the attack, saying “Iranian-backed militants fired several shells and ballistic missiles” at the base. It said the base’s defense systems “intercepted most of the missiles, while others fell on the base.”
The command’s statement said an unspecified number of U.S. personnel had head injuries and at least one Iraqi military service member was also injured.
An Iraqi military official said 12 missiles were fired at the base, of which four were shot down and eight fell within the base. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share the details with journalists.
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Associated Press writers Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad, and Tara Copp in Washington contributed to this report.
North Korea said Friday it had tested a purported underwater nuclear attack drone in response to a combined naval exercise between South Korea and the United States and Japan this week, as it continues to blame its rivals for raising tension in the region. The alleged drone test came days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared he would scrap his country’s long-standing goal of a peaceful unification with South Korea and that his country would rewrite its constitution to define South Korea as its most hostile foreign adversary.
Tension on the Korean Peninsula is at its highest point in years, with Kim accelerating weapons demonstrations and threatening nuclear conflict and the U.S. and its Asian allies responding by strengthening their combined military exercises.
The test was not of a nuclear device but rather of an “underwater self-explosive drone,” according to Shin Jong-woo, a military expert at the Seoul-based Korea Defense and Security Forum. Shin called it a “navigation test for their battery-powered underwater suicide drone,” adding that North Korea was testing how the drone would perform over long distances and long periods of time.
An image taken from video broadcast by North Korean state TV shows what appears to be the North’s Haeil-2 nuclear-capable underwater attack drone being driven through Pyongyang during a military parade on July 27, 2023.
KRT/Reuters
Shin noted that North Korea had tested the Haeil-2 Unmanned Underwater Nuclear Attack Boat between April 4 and 7 of last year. CBS News senior foreign correspondent says the weapons is something like a cross between a rocket and an unmanned submarine — but capable, the North Korean regime says, of carrying a nuclear warhead.
The test in the spring of 2023, according to North Korean state media, saw the drone cruise about 600 miles underwater over the course of three days before test detonating a non-nuclear warhead at sea.
North Korea’s alleged nuclear attack drone is among a broad range of systems demonstrated in recent years as Kim expands his arsenal of nuclear-capable weapons. South Korea’s military has insisted the North has exaggerated the capabilities of the drone, which is supposedly designed to carry out strikes on enemy vessels and ports.
Images broadcast on North Korean state TV show what it claimed to be a test of the country’s Haeil-2 nuclear-capable underwater attack drone, said to have been carried out in early April, 2023.
KRT/Reuters
The North’s military said it conducted the test in the country’s eastern waters in response to the U.S., South Korean, and Japanese naval drills, which wrapped up its three-day run Wednesday in waters south of Jeju island.
“Our army’s underwater nuke-based countering posture is being further rounded off and its various maritime and underwater responsive actions will continue to deter the hostile military maneuvers of the navies of the U.S. and its allies,” the North’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.
“We strongly denounce the U.S. and its followers for their reckless acts of seriously threatening the security of the DPRK from the outset of the year and sternly warn them of the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by them.”
UNITED NATIONS — South Korea called on the divided U.N. Security Council on Thursday “to break the silence” over North Korea’s escalating missile tests and threats.
“It’s a big question,” South Korea’s U.N. Ambassador Hwang Joonkook told reporters after an emergency closed meeting of the council on the North’s first ballistic missile test of 2024 on Sunday. South Korea is serving a two-year term on the council.
The Security Council imposed sanctions after North Korea’s first nuclear test explosion in 2006 and tightened them over the years in a total of 10 resolutions seeking — so far unsuccessfully — to cut funds and curb its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
The last sanctions resolution was adopted by the council in 2017. China and Russia vetoed a U.S.-sponsored resolution in May 2022 that would have imposed new sanctions over a spate of intercontinental ballistic missile launches. Since then, the two veto-wielding permanent council members have blocked any council action, including media statements.
North Korea’s escalating test-launches in violation of the existing U.N. sanctions — five ICBMs, more than 25 ballistic missiles and three satellite launches using ballistic missile technology in 2023 – coupled with new threats from the North’s leader Kim Jong Un have raised regional tensions to their highest point in years.
On Monday, Kim declared North Korea would abandon its commitment to a peaceful unification with South Korea and ordered a rewriting of its constitution to eliminate the idea of a shared statehood between the war-divided countries. He said South Koreans were “top-class stooges” of America who were obsessed with confrontation, and repeated a threat that the North would annihilate the South with its nukes if provoked.
Before Thursday’s council meeting, U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood told reporters Kim’s provocations “are of great concern.”
He said the 15 council members need to be reminded that North Korea is violating sanctions and its obligations to the council, “and we have to insist that they adhere to those obligations, and for all Security Council members to enforce those resolutions.”
By contrast, China’s U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun, whose country is a close ally of North Korea, called on all parties involved in the Korean Peninsula to stay calm and refrain from actions that would further raise tensions.
In a message clearly aimed at the United States and South Korea, Zhang expressed hope that while attention is mainly on North Korea, “other countries are also responsible to avoid further escalation.”
France’s U.N. Ambassador Nicolas De Riviere told reporters that North Korea’s actions are “getting worse and worse,” with regular ballistic missile launches, continuing uranium enrichment, and advancement of its nuclear program.
“Everyone is focused on missile launches, but I think the biggest threat is their nuclear program which continues to grow again and again,” De Riviere said.
And he called it “a shame” that Russia is violating Security Council resolutions by “buying military stuff that they use in Ukraine” from North Korea. “It’s really bad,” he said.
South Korea’s Hwang said all 15 members of the Council are worried that North Korea’s rhetoric and actions are “getting more and more serious.”
But how to break the council’s silence and inaction?
“We will discuss and think about it, and how to move forward,” he said. “It’s a big question.”
As for Kim’s abandonment of peaceful reunification, Hwang called it “a big change” in their rhetoric, actions and policy. “The nuclear policy is highly, highly alarming,” he said.
TWO of Vladimir Putin’s most crucial warplanes worth £290million have been shot down in the most recent blow to the despot’s failing war in Ukraine.
One of the Russian dictator’s £260million spy planes disappeared and a vital bomber jet was set on fire after Ukrainian forces shot them out of the sky above the Azov Sea.
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Putin’s IL-22M command plane – one of two key aircraft hit on Sunday
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A £260m Russian A-50 spy plane (pictured) disappeared after the hit on SundayCredit: EAST2WEST
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The Sunday attack came on the one-year anniversary of the Dnipro bombings in Ukraine which left over 45 deadCredit: AP
They were blasted out of the air in one of Moscow’s worst days for its air force since Russia’s invasion in 2022.
The IL-22M bomber, worth around £28million, just managed to make its way back to Anapa airport on fire after being hit, with a number of casualties.
But the £260million A-50 spy plane disappeared soon after going on patrol near Zaporizhzhia at 9:10pm on Sunday.
For now it is unclear if the aircraft were definitely hit by Ukrainian missiles possibly using a new NATO “miracle weapon” – or in a friendly fire ambush by the Russians.
After the IL-22M command plane was hit, air traffic control at Russian Anapa airport heard: “It’s been hit, landing in Anapa.
“Urgently need an ambulance and fire engine.”
At least one senior Russian war commander was likely on board at the time.
Russian Telegram channel Colonelcassad admitted there had been casualties on the aircraft.
Ukraine initially claimed to have downed the planes close to Putin’s beloved £3million Crimean Bridge.
But it was reported that the command plane was shot over Strilkove, Kherson, miles away from the key bridge.
Reports say the planes have been flying the same routes for months.
The spy plane, now missing, recently underwent a £3million modernisation and refit.
It is a key Soviet-era aircraft which uses radar to detect missiles and enemy planes.
Ukraine’s RBK outlet reported Ukrainian Air Force General Mykola Oleshchuk as saying: “This is for Dnipro! Burn in hell, you inhumans! PS No details yet”.
“It is finally clear that the Russian IL-22 in the Sea of Azov area was hit by the Russian air defence that defended the Crimean Bridge,” stated the VChK OGPU Telegram channel, which has links to the security services.
“When the plane was hit, the bridge had an alarm, and traffic was blocked.
“The pilot was able to land the plane, and at least two people were injured.”
Russian Telegram channel Military Informant also said: “The damaged IL-22 reached the airfield and landed, as evidenced by leaked intercepted conversations on an open frequency, but with the A-50, apparently, everything is much sadder.
“If the loss of the aircraft is confirmed, it will be a huge setback for domestic aviation since there are only a few such AWACS aircraft in service and are constantly in short supply at the front.”
The channel described the aircraft hits as “another dark day for the Russian air forces”.
The loss of the AWACS plane was “approximately equal to [the demise of] an aircraft carrier”.
The same channel discussed unnamed “miracle weapons” provided by NATO and Pro-Kremlin political analyst Sergey Markov also speculated on “use of a new type of weapon by the Armed Forces of Ukraine”.
Russian Telegram channel FlightBomber – with close military contacts – today appeared to admit the catastrophic blow.
“Tragedy is always tragedy. Especially when it’s on this scale,” said a post.
“Who is to blame for the deaths of the pilots, we probably won’t know.”
The channel called for the Russian Defence Ministry – which did not initially comment on the Air Force blow – to come clean about what happened.
Russia has suffered repeated losses from friendly fire, indicating faulty weaponry as well as poor command and control.
Pro-war military channel Rybar admitted the possibility of friendly fire.
“Sadly there were enough similar cases during the past two years, and there is no sign of improvement,” reported the channel.
Ukrainian channel Crimean Wind reported: “As we are informed, a Russian A-50 AWACS aircraft was shot down over the Sea of Azov near Berdyansk and an IL-22 was shot down.…
“The IL-22, falling, pulled towards Kerch – that is why the bridge was closed.”
The channel said that all ships in the vicinity of the Crimeans Bridge had their transponders turned off today.
Initially, Ukrainian sources had claimed responsibility for the attack – despite the Sea of Azov being hard to reach.
Senior politician Yuri Mysyagin said: “At about 21:00, Ukrainian units fired at two aircraft of the Russian Air Force, namely an A-50 AWACS aircraft and an IL-22, located over the Sea of Azov.
“The A-50 was shot down, and the IL-22 was shot down, but was in the air and trying to get to the nearest airfield, but disappeared from the radar, after the descent began, in the Kerch area.”
Commanders have been careful not to use the intelligence-gathering planes too close to the active war zone.
According to reports Russia had just nine of the A50 planes in service and 30 IL-22Ms.
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A Russian IL-22 command and control spy planeCredit: EAST2WEST
A RUSSIAN influencer who faced backlash for burning her passport has claimed it was not a protest against Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Yevgenia ‘Gipsy’ Hoffman, 22, received intense criticism from Russian war fanatics who claim she was “expressing support for Ukraine”.
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Influencer Yevgenia Hoffman faces jail after setting fire to her Russian passportCredit: East2West
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She denied all accusations about her act being pro-UkraineCredit: East2West
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She has received intense backlash from Russian patriotsCredit: East2West
However, Hoffman claims her stunt was not to go against Putin, instead burnt her passport because she “did not like her picture” on it.
One alleged she was “expressing support for Ukrainian terrorists”.
Hoffman, who belongs from an area near the Russia-Ukraine border, said: “I burned the passport because the photo [of me] is ugly.
“I love Putin and Russia, and the act was not to show support towards Ukraine.”
The influencer, who has more than 5,000 followers online, has been vilified by online critics.
One said: “She should be stripped of her citizenship for this.”
Others called for her to be given a severe punishment to deter others from making anti-war protests.
The influencer’s late-night passport prank has reached to Kremlin’s top investigator Alexander Bastrykin, who also happens to be Putin’s university classmate.
Her alleged crime is burning the State Emblem – a two-headed eagle – which appears in the “internal passport”, used in Russia as a vital identity document.
The investigating committee said: “These actions are a gross insult and mockery of the civil and patriotic feelings of citizens of the Russian Federation.
“The Chairman of the Investigative Committee will be presented with a report on the investigation of the criminal case against a Moscow resident who committed desecration of the State Emblem of the Russian Federation.”
A criminal case has been opened against her, with a clear hint that she will be found guilty.
The influencer could now face upto a year in jail amid the intense backlash from the critics.
The stunt comes amid a rise in protests – especially from women – against Putin’s war in Ukraine.
And the Russian authorities are now seeking to crush new cases of opposition to the dictator.
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Hoffman could face upto a year in jailCredit: East2West
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Alexander Bastrykin, on the right, is the head of Investigative Committee of Russia and also a long-time friend of PutinCredit: East2West
KIM Jong-un is said to be giving top end Mercedes cars to members of his inner circle – but no one knows how he is getting them.
The North Korean dictator clearly isn’t short of cash despite ruling over an impoverished nation as he has been splashing out on a slew of fancy cars.
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Cabinet Premier Kim Tok Hun seen arriving for a meeting in a stretch Mercedes limo on December 27, 2023Credit: KCTV
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South Korean President Moon Jae-in, left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ride in a car parade in September 2018 in PyongyangCredit: Getty
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Kim drives off after a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in September 2023Credit: AP
The purchases would make him in breach of UN sanctions.
Kim, 39, has recently been seen riding around in four new foreign vehicles, including an armoured Mercedes Maybach S560 sedan, which would cost at least £179,000, other luxuryMercedes-Benz, LexusSUVs and Ford vans, according to the Seoul-based NK News.
He has also been seen in a Rolls-Royce Phantom, in the past.
Mystery though surrounds just how Kim managed to get his hands on the vehicles and into North Korea.
The country has been restricted by severe United Nations sanctions in an attempt to curb the escalation of the communist regime’s nuclear weapons and missile programme.
Despite those sanctions, the regime has been able to smuggle in luxury items, including flash watches, designer bags and clothes as well as expensive alcohol, all enjoyed by Kim and his Pyongyang cronies.
Japanese cops last week foiled an attempt to smuggle a $70,000 Lexus into North Korea via Bangladesh, according to the Asahi Shimbun.
Police reportedly raided a car dealer who had allegedly claimed that Singapore was the vehicle’s final destination, breaking the Japanese Customs Act.
In 2018, he put on a grand show of riding to a historic meeting with the South Korean president in a black Mercedes limousine, flanked by a dozen bodyguards jogging along side.
Last weekend, state TV channel KCTV showed footage of Kim arriving in a new S650 sedan at the National Meeting of Mothers, where he gave a speech stating the importance of having children and bringing them up to love the regime, according to NK News.
Accompanying him was a convoy of Lexus and Toyota SUVs, some of which had been fitted out with new police lights and other emblems.
Despite the US and its allies carrying out surveillance operations to try to prevent sanction breaches, luxury cars and other top-end goods appear regularly in the country.
It’s thought a new route used by Russian cargo ships heading to North Korea’s Rason, on the country’s northeast coast, is thought to be facilitating the latest shipments.
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What you get for your money
According to a 2019 report by the Washington-based Centre for Advanced Defence Studies, Pyongyang’s ability to smuggle vehicles through China, South Korea and Japan showed how it was also able to supply its nuclear weapons programme.
The centre said last week it had identified 17 vessels registered to Pacific nations that it believed were linked to “illicit” North Korean oil supply chains.
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Kim is surrounded by a dozen security guards during talks in 2018 with South KoreaCredit: AFP or licensors
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Even North Korean cops drive around in MercedesCredit: Getty
The explosions lit up the sky above Moscow’s naval stronghold on Boxing Day, possibly killing dozens of servicemen.
A Ukrainian supersonic Su-24 jet is said to have launched the cruise missile which ripped apart the Novocherkassk said to be loaded with Iranian suicide drones.
But as many as 100 people could have been killed in the strike, military analyst Yan Matveev told The Times.
Now, Putin – said to be “completely furious” – has reportedly ordered death squads to hunt down anyone working for the resistance inside the occupied peninsula.
Ukrainian partisan group Atesh said on Telegram: “The flywheel of repression is spinning.
“Local residents have been raided throughout the city, their smartphones are being taken away and their houses are being searched.”
The ragtag resistance group, who state their goal is to “destroy the Russian army from the inside”, argued: “It is reported that Putin is completely furious over the destruction of the Novocherkassk large landing ship.”
The group also stated that Putin intends to remove top commanders based in Crimea and send them into Russia’s meat-grinder assaults at the front.
The huge coup for Kyiv had come amid surfacing reports that Putin told China’s president Xi Jinping back in March that Russia “will fight for at least five years” in Ukraine.
In an attempt to downplay his lack of visible battlefield gains, he sought to assure Xi that Russia would emerge victorious in the end, Nikkei Asia reports, citing sources.
He allegedly implied that a protracted war would favour China’s key ally at their Moscow meeting.
Last week, Putin told his generals that his war goals have not changed and stated: “We won’t give up what’s ours.”
However, he swiftly added: “If they want to negotiate, let them negotiate.”
Today, Putin’s top ally Dmitry Medvedev blasted Kyiv for allegedly rejecting negotiations for a possible ceasefire.
He stated that talks were “possible” and claimed that “Russia has never rejected them, unlike the crazy authorities of Ukraine.”
The Kremlin has reportedly been signalling since September that they are open for a ceasefire on the condition that Russia keeps Ukraine’s occupied territories, insider sources say.
The New York Times reported that former senior Russian officials said the Kremlin had been using back-channel diplomacy to signal they were open for negotiations.
However, some analysts have suggested its a ploy by Putin to suggest he is open to securing peace ahead of the 2024 presidential elections in March.
Such a move would likely favour him in the polls – although he is all but certain to win the sham elections.
As Kyiv blasted the warship out of the water on Boxing Day, Russia fired missiles at Kherson’s railway station as 140 people tried to flee the station.
At least one person was killed and several wounded in the attack that destroyed the train they were attempting to board, according to witnesses.
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Footage of the Boxing Day explosion that destroyed Russian landing ship NovocherkasskCredit: East2West
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Russia appears to be signalling they are open for negotiations on a ceasefire – but only if they keep the Ukrainian territories they have occupiedCredit: Getty
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The war in Ukraine has spiralled into a grinding war of attrition fought like World War One battlesCredit: EPA
VLADIMIR Putin is making a “second calamitous blunder” almost two years after invading Ukraine, the head of Britain’s armed forces has warned.
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin mocked the Kremlin despot as “no grand master of strategy” as Putin’s main gambits had failed or backfired – his army is stretched and his Black Sea Fleet scattered.
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The head of UK armed forces said Putin is making a ‘second calamitous blunder’ almost two years after invading UkraineCredit: Getty
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Admiral Sir Tony Radakin mocked the Kremlin despot as ‘no grand master of strategy’Credit: PA
But the tyrant’s biggest mistake was pushing Russia’s economy towards Soviet-style collapse.
“If his first catastrophic mistake was invading Ukraine, he is now making his he is now making his second calamitous blunder,” Admiral Radakin said when delivering the Chief of Defence Staff’s annual lecture in London.
“The Russian economy is being twisted even more out of shape.
“Nearly 40 per cent of all Russian public expenditure is being spent on defence.
More on Russia-Ukraine war
“That is more than the aggregate of health and education.
“And the last time we saw these levels was at the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union.”
He added: “This is disastrous for Russia and its people.”
Admiral Radakin admitted that Ukraine’s counter-offensive, however, gained less ground than was hoped and that Russian defences were stronger than expected.
He said Ukraine was fighting with a “citizen army” of men in their 30s and 40s with families back home.
“Ukraine is cautious with their lives. We would be too.
“And it speaks volumes about the contrasting approaches of Russian and Ukrainian leaders,” he said.
The UK armed forces boss also backed President Zelensky’s insistence that the conflict had not reached a stalemate, saying: “Territory is not the only measure of how this war progresses.
“Talk of stalemate or the advantages to Russia of settling for a long war are too superficial.”
He added Russia’s attempt to weaponise energy exports backfired when Europe reduced its dependence on Russian gas.
“Putin sought to withhold global food supplies. But the world responded with the Black Sea Grain Initiative,” Admiral Radakin said.
“He sought to coerce the West with reckless nuclear threats.
“But elicited global condemnation, including China, India and Saudi Arabia.
“And now he’s wanted by the International Criminal Court.
“He’s suffered the shock and humiliation of an attempted coup.
“Crimea is no longer safe. The Black Sea Fleet has scattered.
“He has to keep 400 thousand troops in Ukraine to hold on to what he has taken.
“And he cannot order a general mobilisation – at least ahead of next year’s election – for fear of how his own people will respond.”
He said Russia had “few real friends abroad”, with Putin increasingly “resembling a prisoner of his own making”.
It comes after Kyiv suffered a hellish night after Russia launched a massive missile attack overnight that left 53 people injured.
Ukraine’s air defences downed ten strikes – believed to be powerful Russian Iskander missiles – but damage was caused by falling rocket debris.
The horror hit damaged a children’s hospital and apartment building and wounded 53 people including six children, one aged only five.
It marked one of the biggest number of injured in the Ukrainian capital in months.
Twenty people were hospitalised as a result of the heavy bombardment of Kyiv, including two children.
The military administration in the Ukrainian capital said the city had faced “the second high-speed missile attack on Kyiv in the last two days.
Meanwhile, footage showed Russia had put its flag over the ruins of Maryinka, a hotly-disputed town in the Donetsk region, as it makes gains on the frontline.
Biden warned his foes they were making a “Christmas gift” to Vladimir Putin by refusing to sanction urgent new munitions for Kyiv and said the US would “continue to supply Ukraine with critical weapons and equipment as long as we can.”
The Ukrainian leader dismissed suggestions he could concede territory taken by Russia since its February 2022 invasion to move any ceasefire closer.
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Admiral Radakin also backed President Zelensky’s insistence that the war had not reached a stalemateCredit: AFP
SEOUL, South Korea — Senior North Korean economic officials met with the governor of a Russian region along the Pacific coast for discussions on boosting economic cooperation between the countries, North Korean state media said Wednesday.
The meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, came as concerns have grown in South Korea that the North may be attempting to expand its labor exports to Russia in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions to generate revenue for its struggling economy and help fund leader Kim Jong Un’s nuclear weapons program.
The official Korean Central News Agency said North Korean officials led by the country’s external economic relations minister, Yun Jong Ho, met with the delegation led by Oleg Kozhemyako, governor of the Primorye region in the Russian Far East, and discussed elevating economic cooperation between the countries to “higher levels.” The report did not specify the types of cooperation that were discussed.
Kozhemyako told Russian media ahead of his visit that he was expecting to discuss expanding cooperation with the North Koreans in agriculture, tourism and trade.
Kozhemyako’s visit extends a flurry of diplomacy between North Korea and Russia this year, highlighted by a summit between Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin in September, which underscores their aligning interests in the face of separate, intensifying confrontations with the United States.
The U.S. and South Korea have accused North Korea of supplying Russian with artillery shells and other weapons over the past months to help it wage war on Ukraine, although both Russia and North Korea have denied such transfers.
There are also concerns that North Korea is preparing to send workers to Russia to secure badly needed foreign currency, which would run afoul of U.N. Security Council sanctions imposed on the North over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, the country’s main spy agency, in a message sent to reporters on Tuesday said it had detected signs of North Korean preparations to send workers to Russia. The agency didn’t elaborate on what those signs were.
In a news conference in Seoul on Tuesday, South Korean Unification Minister Kim Yung Ho said his government is monitoring whether Russia is accepting more North Korean workers.
“The sending of North Korean workers to Russia would be a clear violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions,” he said. “As a permanent member of the Security Council, Russia has a responsibility to truthfully implement the council’s sanctions.”
North Korea last year hinted at an interest in sending construction workers to help rebuild Russia-backed separatist territories in the eastern region of Ukraine, an idea that was openly endorsed by senior Russian officials and diplomats, who foresee a cheap and hard-working workforce that could be thrown into the harsh conditions.
UKRAINE’S President Volodymyr Zelensky urged US Republicans to show the same courage as Ronald Reagan in the Cold War and unblock £49billion in aid he needs to fight Russia.
And US President Joe Biden said a failure to do so would give tyrannical Vladimir Putin “the greatest Christmas gift”.
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President Volodymyr Zelensky urged US Republicans to show the same courage as Ronald Reagan as he met with President BidenCredit: AP
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Mr Zelensky is on his third US trip Russia’s invasion of UkraineCredit: AP
In Washington last night, Mr Zelensky invoked Reagan’s 1987 call to “tear down” the Berlin Wall.
He said: “We need no less confidence now than President Reagan had then.”
The speech by Reagan — still a hero to many Republicans — helped spark the wall’s demolition two years later and then the end of the Soviet Union.
But his successors in the party have repeatedly hampered White House plans to send the next tranche of aid to Ukraine.
Last week, they blocked the bill amid anger over the exclusion of Mexican immigration reforms they sought as part of the package.
With Mr Zelensky in the Oval Office, Mr Biden said: “Congress needs to pass supplemental funding for Ukraine before the holiday recess — before they give Putin the greatest Christmas gift they could possibly give him.”
On his third trip to the US since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Mr Zelensky told military officers at the National Defence Academy: “If there’s anyone inspired by unresolved issues on Capitol Hill, it’s just Putin and his sick clique.”
He pointed to recent drone strikes that show “Ukraine’s response to Russian barbarism can shake the ground in the heart of Moscow”.
Western intelligence sources claim Ukraine could just about hold the line against Russia but would be unable to advance if America turns off the taps.
And Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska warned her country faced “mortal danger” if the West abandons them.
Republican Speaker Mike Johnson last night insisted his party backed Ukraine but accused the White House of asking for billions of dollars without proper oversight.
He said: “We need clear articulation of the strategy to allow Ukraine to win.
“Thus far, their responses have been insufficient.”
Russia has responded to Mr Zelensky’s US visit with a huge cyber attack — with mobile and internet provider Kyivstar down and Monobank facing a massive denial of service outage.
It came as Mr Zelensky’s Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba urged the EU to make its own decisions and not be swayed by US wobbles.
The bloc is due release £43billion in aid and agree a route to Ukraine’s accession.
However, Hungary’s pro-Putin leader Viktor Orbán has vowed to oppose both plans — despite being pictured briefly talking with Mr Zelensky in Argentina on Sunday.
Britain has vowed to support Ukraine for as long as it takes.
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Mr Zelensky told US military officers: ‘If there’s anyone inspired by unresolved issues on Capitol Hill, it’s just Putin and his sick clique’Credit: EPA
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President Reagan’s 1987 call to ‘tear down’ the Berlin Wall helped lead to the end of the Cold WarCredit: AP:Associated Press
