Attack at Turkey aviation site leaves some dead, injured

Ankara — A deadly attack was carried out at the Turkish Aerospace Industries’ headquarters near Ankara on Wednesday, the government said, as broadcasters showed footage of several armed assailants entering the building amid reports of gunfire and a loud explosion.

“A terrorist attack was carried out against the TUSAS facilities in Kahramankazan, Ankara. Unfortunately, we have martyrs and injured people,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on social media X, referring to the Aerospace Industries.

The cause and perpetrators of the blast and subsequent gunfire remained unclear. Some media reports claimed a suicide attack had occurred and that there were hostages inside the building. Officials have not confirmed this.

Witnesses told Reuters that employees inside the building were taken by authorities to shelters and no one was permitted to leave. They said bombings may have taken place at different exits as employees were leaving work for the day.

The state-owned Anadolu Agency said emergency services were dispatched to the site, while television images showed a damaged gate and an exchange of gunfire in a parking lot. The images showed the attackers carrying assault rifles and backpacks as they entered the building.

Anadolu also said prosecutors had launched an investigation into the attack.

TUSAS is one of Turkey’s most important defense and aviation companies. It produces KAAN, the country’s first national combat aircraft, among other projects, and has over 10,000 employees. 

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Greek PM deplores worst climate conditions in 4 decades

Athens — Wildfire-plagued Greece has suffered its worst year in terms of climate conditions in four decades in 2024, its prime minister told parliament on Wednesday.

The already sun-baked Mediterranean region has been designated by scientists as a climate change “hotspot”, with warming higher than the global average, according to United Nations reports. 

Greece has been perennially struck by scorching heatwaves and destructive wildfires every summer, with conditions worsening in recent years.

“We were expecting a very difficult year in terms of climate, it was objectively the most difficult in the past 40 years according to data by all scientists, including those from the national climate monitor,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told parliament.

He pointed to “temperatures constantly higher than average”, “prolonged drought”, “strong winds”, adding that Greece needed to face the consequences of climate change.

The number of wildfires so far this year has reached 9,101, up from 7,163 last year, with 44,000 hectares (109,000 acres) burnt, the premier said during a parliamentary debate on the matter.  

Forest blazes began earlier than normal this year, with one igniting at the end of March in the country’s north.

Greece experienced its hottest summer ever, Athens’s climate monitor said in September, with premature heatwaves in June, and record-high summer temperatures.

June and July were the warmest months since records began in 1960, while August was the second hottest after August 2021, the observatory said on its meteo.gr website.

More than 20 people died in Greek forest fires last year, with a massive blaze in Dadia national park dubbed the most destructive ever recorded in the European Union.

Rising temperatures are leading to extended wildfire seasons and increasing the area burnt by the blazes, according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 

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Britain Prime Minister Starmer plays down Trump team claims of interference 

London — Britain’s prime minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday played down allegations made by Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump’s team of “blatant foreign interference” by his Labour Party in the U.S. election, saying it was normal for its volunteers to campaign.   

Starmer also insisted that he maintained “a good relationship” with Trump, having met him for talks last month.   

The former president’s legal team filed a complaint to the U.S. Federal Election Commission alleging the “British Labour Party made, and the [Kamala] Harris campaign accepted, illegal foreign national contributions.”   

The filing cited media reports that Labour officials, including the prime minister’s new chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, traveled to the United States to advise the Harris campaign.   

Trump’s team also submitted a now-deleted LinkedIn post by Labour director of operations Sofia Patel calling for volunteers to travel to North Carolina, saying “we will sort out your housing.”   

Foreign nationals are allowed to volunteer in U.S. elections but may not be compensated.   

Starmer told media traveling with him to a Commonwealth meeting on the Pacific island of Samoa that his party had done nothing wrong, and that the volunteers had paid for themselves.   

“The Labour party has volunteers, who have gone over pretty much every election,” he said.   

“They’re doing it in their spare time, they’re doing it as volunteers, they’re staying, I think, with other volunteers over there.”   

“That’s what they’ve done in previous elections, that’s what they’re doing in this election and that’s really straightforward.”   

He also denied suggestions that it could damage relations with Britain’s most important ally should Republican party candidate Trump beat Democrat Harris and secure a return to the White House.   

Starmer said he had “established a good relationship” with the former president, having met him last month for a two-hour dinner at the former real estate tycoon’s Trump Tower residence in New York.   

Adding to the dispute, Trump surrogate Elon Musk wrote on his X site on Tuesday that “this is war” after leaked documents from campaign group Center for Countering Digital Hate appeared to show that one of its objectives was to “kill Musk’s Twitter,” X’s former name.   

The campaign group and think-tank is led by a former Labour adviser and McSweeney is a former director. 

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Russia, Ukraine trade drone attacks

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday it destroyed 14 Ukrainian aerial drones in areas along the Ukraine-Russia border as well as four uncrewed Ukrainian boats in the Black Sea.

The ministry said Russian air defenses destroyed 10 drones over Russia-occupied Crimea, and another four over the Rostov region.

Russian forces carried out a second consecutive night of heavy drone attacks targeting the Sumy region in southern Ukraine.

The Sumy regional military administration said Wednesday that Ukrainian air defenses shot down 19 Russian drones, a night after Ukraine downed 25 drones in the same area.

Officials in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk and Mykolaiv regions also reported drones being shot down overnight.

North Korean involvement

Ukraine has “information that two units of military personnel from North Korea are being trained — potentially even two brigades of 6,000 people each” — for combat in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday. 

“This is a challenge,” the president said in his daily address. “But we know how to respond to this challenge. And it is important that our partners do not shy away from this challenge, as well.” 

“If North Korea can intervene in the war in Europe, then the pressure on this regime is definitely not strong enough,” Zelenskyy said. “And if Russia is still able to expand and prolong this war, it means that everyone in the world who is still not helping to force Russia into peace is actually helping Putin to wage war.” 

“We expect a firm, concrete response from the world,” he added. “Hopefully, not only in words.” 

Also Tuesday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement that Russia is playing with lives beyond Ukraine. 

“Russia’s indiscriminate strikes on ports in the Black Sea underscore that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is willing to gamble on global food security in his attempts to force Ukraine into submission. … In doing so, he is harming millions of vulnerable people across Africa, Asia and the Middle East to try and gain the upper hand in his barbaric war.”  

Starmer said Russia’s conduct in the conflict has shown “no respect for human life or the consequences of their invasion across the world.”

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters

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Ukraine’s prosecutor general resigns following draft-dodging scandal

Ukraine’s prosecutor general announced his resignation Tuesday amid charges that his office provided exemptions to the military draft for government officials.  

“Many shameful facts of abuse have been established within the system of the prosecutor’s offices of Ukraine,” Andriy Kostin said in a statement.  

Kostin’s resignation followed a meeting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held with senior officials concerning the issuance of disability certificates. The certificates allowed officials throughout the government to avoid military service at a time when the country is struggling to recruit soldiers for its fight against Russia. 

“The prosecutor general must take political responsibility for the situation in the prosecution bodies of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a statement after the meeting.  

“The problem is not only that officials use their connections to obtain disability status,” the president said in his daily address. “The problem is also that people with real disabilities, in particular those disabled in combat, are often unable to get proper status and fair payments.” 

Zelenskyy said a full audit has been conducted on “the pensions and other accruals” that government officials were able to acquire with the faulty disability exemptions.  

Sixty-four officials within the Medical and Social Expert Commission have been notified that they are being investigated for illegally issuing disability certificates, according to the SBU, Ukraine’s domestic security service. Nine have been tried and found guilty.  

The president has ordered an overhaul of the disability assessment system. 

Some information for this report was provided by Reuters and Agence France-Presse.  

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VOA interview: US Army General Costanza discusses Russia’s threat to West

The war in Ukraine is reshaping the strategic landscape of Europe. While Western and Eastern European nations within the NATO alliance recognize the Russian threat, each day, NATO nations bordering Belarus and Russia feel the immediacy of the threat.

In an exclusive interview with VOA’s Eastern Europe Bureau Chief Myroslava Gongadze, Lieutenant General Charles Costanza, commander of the U.S. Army’s V Corps (also known as the Fifth Corps) in Poland, discusses how NATO adapts to Russia’s evolving tactics while defending its members’ borders.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

VOA: Can you explain the different threat assessments from Eastern and Western European partners of NATO regarding Russia?

Charles Costanza, commanding general of the U.S. Army’s V Corps: Clearly, in the eastern flank of Europe, the threat is real. They’re on the border with Belarus and Russia, and so, they see that threat every day differently. You see recent open-source reporting on the Russian UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones] coming over Romanian territory and Lithuanian territory. Those incursions have increased. You see the sabotage operations going on throughout eastern flank countries and Eastern European countries. So, Russia is increasing that, short of … challenges and interference [that would trigger the NATO mutual defense clause].

VOA: Do you think Russia is doing it deliberately?

Costanza: Of course, they are. They weaponize immigration — I say “weaponize” deliberately. This weaponized immigration is happening in Poland, it’s all been driven from Russia to interfere in Eastern Europe. Moldova is a near-term example with their elections. Russia is actively interfering in those elections to try and shape them in a pro-Russian way. So, all that is going on right now. So, that’s part of this threat assessment piece that isn’t necessarily impacting the Western European countries as much as Eastern Europe.

VOA: How threatening is Russia’s military?

Costanza: I think there’s a view that Russia is going to take three to 10 years to reconstitute, and I think that we need to look at that a little differently. Russian armed forces, ground forces right now, are actually bigger than they were before the war with Ukraine started 2½ years ago, despite the losses of open-source reporting [of] 600,000 casualties that they’ve incurred during the course of the war.

They may not be as well trained, but they’re bigger. Their industrial base is on a wartime footing. Their mobilization base is on a wartime footing. They know they’re fighting a Western-trained, West-equipped country with Ukraine. They’re learning how to defeat those capabilities and those systems over the last 2½ years. So, they’re modernizing their force based on the lessons that they’re learning, and I think that’s something we should be concerned about. They’re modernizing their equipment. They’re changing the way that they fight based on learning how to fight against Western-trained forces in Ukraine. And I think that should be a concern for all of us. It clearly is to our Eastern European allies.

VOA: How are you preparing to defend and deter?

Costanza: First of all, to maintain a high stance on readiness from a U.S. forces standpoint but also the NATO standpoint. At the Fifth Corps, one of the key things we do as partners with our multinational corps and multinational divisions across the eastern flank of Europe [is] just to help build their war-fighting capability as they field new capabilities. HIMARS [High Mobility Artillery Rocket System], for example. Apaches [helicopters] — with Poland just purchasing 96 Apaches from the United States. So, we help them to employ those things, those capabilities. But how you employ them at the corps level, and how you employ them at the division level, we can help, and we do.

VOA: General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the former commander in chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and now ambassador to the United Kingdom, recently gave a speech at Chatham House in London in which he talked about the technological advancements of this war, and how this is a different war than NATO was prepared to fight. How would you assess NATO’s capabilities today?

Costanza: I think you’re exactly right. And those are some of the comments that were made by our NATO partners in this event. I think that the United States is kind of setting the standard on that with a new program that our chief of staff of the Army [General Randy George] has talked about, which is transformation in contact. So, for the U.S. forces that are rotating over here to Europe, we’re modernizing them with equipment that’s available right now. So, instead of going through our normal four-year acquisition process to get new equipment, we’re taking things that are available based on what we’re watching happen in Ukraine. … So maybe that can be a model for our partners and allies.

VOA: We talked about NATO capabilities. Now I want to go back to Russian capabilities. How advanced do you think they are right now?

Costanza: I think the biggest concern is what I said before: They know they’re fighting Western-trained and -equipped forces. And so, as they modernize based on the lessons that they’re learning — not just their equipment, but how they fight — they’re really sharpening their ability to fight us in the future. And I think that’s something we need to be concerned about.

So, those things I just talked about that we’re trying to rapidly introduce into our brigade to execute the transformation, contact — the UAS [Unmanned Aircraft Systems, or drones], the border, ammunition, the counter UAS, the EW [electronic warfare] capability. And how do you synchronize all of that capability so that you can really, rapidly strike and kill targets? They’ve learned how to do that. And so, we need to be able to do that and do it better than they do.

VOA: Russia is gaining support from China and North Korea right now. Are we ready to face this threat?

Costanza: The lessons that I was talking about, the reasons we should be concerned about Russia — they’re sharing those lessons with China, with Iran, and vice versa, the capabilities that Iran and China are providing. And now you see the North Koreans, as well. North Korea is now providing, I think it’s an initial batch [of] open-source reporting, of 4,000 North Korean soldiers. I think that could potentially just be a starting point for what they provide in terms of manpower to Russia. And I think that’s a problem near-term here in Eastern Europe, because as we talked about before we started, the challenge for Ukrainians is people. It’s the amount of people that they have to put into this fight. And Russia doesn’t care how many losses it takes. I mean, 600,000 [casualties], and they’re still throwing more manpower at it and don’t even blink. Ukrainians can’t afford to take those losses. I think that’s going to be the limiting factor for that as we move forward, watch this war continue into this third period.

VOA: There are different assessments of threats between, let’s say, the political part of the NATO alliance and the military part of the alliance. How are you finding that common ground?

Costanza: Yeah, I think it’s just constant dialogue, right? And so, I know we do that at different levels. So, the combatant commander, the U.S. combat commander, has those discussions at the national levels with our NATO partners and allies. We all live in Eastern Europe, including myself — in Poland. We all see that threat the same way. It can be near term.

VOA: What do you mean by the near term?

Costanza: I think, one year, two years, three years.

VOA: And you’re trying to be ready for that?

Costanza: U.S. forces are ready, and I can tell you, our NATO partners and allies are ready. And we’re just continuing to build capabilities.

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US warns ramped-up election influence efforts aim to stoke violence

WASHINGTON — Efforts by U.S. adversaries to divide Americans and sow growing distrust in the upcoming presidential election have already begun to intensify, according to senior U.S. intelligence officials, who warn some countries appear to be leaning toward additional measures to spark election-related violence.

The latest declassified assessment, issued Tuesday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, comes just two weeks before voters head to the polls November 5 to choose a new president and vote on a series of statewide and local races and initiatives.

“Foreign actors — particularly Russia, Iran and China — remain intent on fanning divisive narratives to divide Americans and undermine Americans’ confidence in the U.S. democratic system consistent with what they perceive to be in their interests,” according to the assessment.

But it warns U.S. intelligence agencies are “increasingly confident” that Russia is starting to engage in plans “aimed at inciting violence.”

It further assesses Iran also “may try to incite violence.”

Post-poll closing concerns

Of particular concern is what appears to be a growing focus on the hours, days and weeks after the polls close, when state and local election officials begin to tally and certify the results.

U.S. adversaries “probably will be quick to create false narratives or amplify content they think will create confusion about the election, such as posting claims of election irregularities,” said a U.S. intelligence official, briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity to discuss the assessment in additional detail.

The official said Russia, Iran and China “may perceive a window of vulnerability to push disinformation or foment or amplify protests and threats” starting with the moment polling centers close and extending to January 6, when the presidential results are certified by a joint session of Congress.

“Foreign driven or amplified violent protests, violence or physical threats to election workers or state and local officials could challenge state and local officials’ ability to conduct elements of the certification and Electoral College process,” the official said. “Particularly if they prevent necessary physical access to facilities or venues.”

U.S. intelligence officials have previously warned that Russia and Iran have been especially active, running a variety of influence operations targeting U.S. voters, with a high likelihood that these efforts would extend beyond the November 5 election.

Russia, they said, has been working to boost the chances of former president and current Republican nominee Donald Trump, while Iran has been working to hurt Trump’s reelection bid and instead buoy the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.

China, according to U.S. intelligence officials, has so far stayed out of the presidential race, focusing its efforts on congressional and state and local candidates perceived to be promoting policies detrimental to Beijing’s interests, including those voicing support for Taiwan.

Officials said Tuesday that new intelligence streams have raised concerns that Moscow, especially, will try to foment violence once the polls close.

“We expect Russia will be more aggressive in this period if the vice president [Kamala Harris] wins the election,” the intelligence official said. “Russia would prefer the former president to win, and they would seek to more aggressively undermine the presidency of the then-president-elect.”

Russia, China and Iran have all rejected previous U.S. accusations of election meddling.

Russia and Iran have yet to respond to requests from VOA for comment, but China on Tuesday again rejected the latest U.S. intelligence findings.

“The presidential elections are the United States’ own affairs,” Liu Pengyu, the spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told VOA in an email. “China has no intention and will not interfere.”

U.S. intelligence officials, though, point to what they describe as growing examples of malign intent, especially by Russia and Iran.

Influence operations

In one example, the officials said Russian-linked actors were responsible for a post on the X social media platform earlier this month that contained false allegations against Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz.

“There are several indicators of manipulation that are consistent with the influence, efforts and tactics of Russian influence actors this cycle,” the U.S. intelligence official said.

In another case, U.S. officials said a Russian intelligence unit sought to recruit what they assess to likely be an unwitting American to organize protests.

They also point to actions taken last month by multiple U.S. agencies to counter several Russian influence efforts, including the use of fake websites and the creation of a shell company to funnel $10 million to a U.S. media company to push pro-Russian propaganda.

Also last month, the U.S. placed bounties and lodged criminal charges against three Iranian hackers, all accused of seeking to undermine the Trump reelection campaign.

And there are fears that even these types of ongoing influence operations, which often seek to exploit divisive political issues, could lead to problems.

“Even if these disinformation campaigns are not specifically calling for violence, the tactics used to undermine confidence in the democratic institutions can lead to violence, even if not deliberately called for,” said a senior official with the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, who, like the U.S. intelligence official, spoke on the condition of anonymity.

‘Expect disruptions’

And while U.S. officials express confidence that safeguards are in place to prevent U.S. adversaries from attacking or hacking systems used to record and tally votes, there is concern that they will target other U.S. infrastructure to try to induce panic or violence.

“That is a real possibility,” said the CISA official, adding the U.S. public should “expect disruptions.”

“We’re going to see a voting location lose power,” the official said. “We’re going to see potentially some type of impact on a transportation system. We’re going to see a potential ransomware attack against a local election office.”

CISA officials say they have been working with state and local election officials to make sure they are prepared to handle sudden disruptions. And state officials say they are prepared.

“All states consider their election infrastructure and IT [information technology] systems a potential target for threats,” said Steve Simon, Minnesota’s secretary of state and the president of the National Association of Secretaries of State, during a call with reporters Monday.

“Chief elections officials throughout the United States have worked really tirelessly and consistently to mitigate risks to our election systems and processes,” said Simon.

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Bilingual school in Hungary helps Ukrainian children preserve identity

The United Nations says the war in Ukraine has displaced more than 6 million people and forced many of them to register as refugees across Europe. More than 60,000 of them — mostly women and children — are living in Hungary. VOA Eastern Europe Bureau Chief Myroslava Gongadze reports from Budapest on a new bilingual school for refugee children from Ukraine. VOA footage and video editing by Daniil Batushchak.

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King Charles III ends first Australian visit by reigning British monarch in 13 years 

MELBOURNE, Australia — King Charles III ends the first visit to Australia by a reigning British monarch in 13 years Tuesday as anti-monarchists hope the debate surrounding his journey is a step toward an Australian citizen becoming head of state.  

Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla, watched dancers perform at a Sydney Indigenous community center. The couple used tongs to cook sausages at a community barbecue lunch at the central suburb of Parramatta and later shook the hands of well-wishers for the last time during their visit outside the Sydney Opera House. Their final engagement was an inspection of navy ships on Sydney Harbor in an event known as a fleet review.  

Charles’s trip to Australia was scaled down because he is undergoing cancer treatment. He arrives in Samoa on Wednesday.  

Indigenous activist Wayne Wharton, 60, was arrested outside the opera house early Tuesday afternoon before the royals greeted the crowd.   

“It will be alleged the man was acting in an abusive and threatening manner and had failed to comply with two previous move-on directions,” a police statement said. He was charged with failing to comply with a police direction and will appear in court on Nov. 5.  

Wharton said he intended to serve Charles with a summons to appear in court on war crimes and for genocide but never got close to the couple.  

The royal visit was “a slap in the face to every decent Aboriginal person and fair-minded person in Australia that’s tried to make a go of their lives,” Wharton told the AP after his arrest.  

On Monday, Indigenous independent senator Lidia Thorpe yelled at Charles during a reception that he was not her king and Australia was not his land.  

Wharton said he backed Thorpe “absolutely 100%.” He had protested with a small group of demonstrators outside a Sydney church service the couple attended on Sunday under a banner “Empire Built on Genocide.”  

Esther Anatolitis, co-chair of the Australian Republic Movement, which campaigns for an Australian citizen to replace the British monarch as Australia’s head of state, said while thousands turned out to see the king and Camilla at their public engagements, the numbers were larger when his mother Queen Elizabeth II first visited Australia 70 years ago.  

An estimated 75% of Australia’s population saw the queen in person during the first visit by a reigning British monarch in 1954.  

“It’s understandable that Australians would be welcoming the king and queen, we also welcome them,” Anatolitis said. “But it doesn’t make any sense to continue to have a head of state appointed by birth right from another country.” 

Anatolitis acknowledged that getting a majority of Australians in a majority of states to vote to change the constitution would be difficult. Australians haven’t changed their constitution since 1977.  

Constitutional lawyer Anne Twomey said an Australian republic is not something that Charles, 75, need worry about in his lifetime.  

She said the failure of a referendum last year to create an “utterly innocuous” Indigenous representative body to advise government demonstrated the difficulty.   

“It’s just that on the whole people aren’t prepared to change the constitution,” Twomey said.  

“So a republic, which would be a much more complex constitutional question than the one last year, would be far more vulnerable to a scare campaign and to opposition,” she said.  

“So unless you had absolutely unanimous support across the board and a strong reason for doing it, it would fail,” she added.  

Philip Benwell, national chair of the Australian Monarchist League, which wants to maintain Australia’s constitutional link to Britain, said he was standing near Thorpe at the Canberra reception when she started yelling at the king and demanding a treaty with Indigenous Australians.  

“I think she alienated a lot of sympathy. If anything, she’s helped to strengthen our support,” Benwell said.  

Thorpe has been criticized, including by some Indigenous leaders, for shouting at the king and failing to show respect.  

Thorpe was unrepentant. She rejected criticism that her aggressive approach toward the monarch was violent.  

“I think what was unacceptable is the violence in that room, of the King of England praising himself, dripping in stolen wealth, that’s what’s violent,” Thorpe told Australian Broadcasting Corp. “The violence is from the colonizer being in that room asserting his authority, being paid for by every taxpayer in this country.”  

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wants Australia to become a republic but has ruled out a referendum during his first three-year term. A vote remains a possibility if his center-left Labor Party wins elections due by May next year.  

Australians decided in a referendum in 1999 to retain Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. That result is widely regarded as having been the consequence of disagreement about how a president would be chosen rather than majority support for a monarch.  

Sydney University royal historian Cindy McCreery suspects Australia is not yet ready to make the change.  

“There’s interest in becoming a republic, but I think what we may forget is that logistically speaking we’re not going to have a referendum on that issue any time soon,” McCreery said.  

“I, as a historian, think that it’s probably not realistic to expect a successful referendum on a republic until we’ve done more work on acknowledging our … complicated history,” she said.  

“Becoming a republic doesn’t mean that we’ve somehow thrown off British colonialism. It hopefully has meant that we’re engaging with our own history in an honest and thoughtful way,” she added. 

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One dead, 15 hurt in Welsh train collision

LONDON — Two passenger trains collided in Wales, killing a man and injuring 15 people, transport police said Tuesday.

The low-speed crash on Monday evening happened near the village of Llanbrynmair in central Wales.

“We can sadly confirm a man has died following this evening’s incident,” said British Transport Police superintendent Andrew Morgan.

Those taken to hospital were not believed to have suffered serious injuries.

Morgan said transport police were working “to understand the circumstances leading up to this collision.”

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Spain sees opportunity in African migrant influx, bucking EU trend

Many European Union countries are calling for the bloc to clamp down on migration amid a surge in support for right-wing political parties. But Spain is bucking the trend — and insists Europe’s aging population needs controlled migration to boost its economy. Henry Ridgwell reports. Camera: Alfonso Beato.

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Former Albanian President Meta arrested for alleged corruption

TIRANA, Albania — Albania’s left-wing Freedom Party said Monday its leader and former Albanian President Ilir Meta has been arrested on alleged corruption charges.

Meta, 55, was arrested in the capital, Tirana, by officers with the National Investigation Bureau, according to local media. Local television stations showed masked, plainclothes police officers taking Meta from his vehicle after he returned from neighboring Kosovo ahead of holding a news conference.

The party’s secretary-general, Tedi Blushi, called it “a criminal kidnapping.”

There was no immediate comment from the prosecutor’s office.

After meeting Meta at the police department, his lawyer Genc Gjokutaj said the former president is being investigated for alleged corruption, money laundering and hiding personal income and property.

Meta was Albania’s previous president, serving from 2017-2022. He was being investigated for alleged illegal lobbying in the United States years ago. He and his former wife also have been investigated on allegations of hiding their personal property and income.

Meta has been a vocal opponent of the government of Prime Minister Edi Rama, accusing it of running a “kleptocratic regime” and concentrating all legislative, administrative and judiciary powers in Rama’s hands.

Corruption has been post-communist Albania’s Achilles’ heel, strongly affecting the country’s democratic, economic and social development.

Judicial institutions created with the support of the European Union and the United States have launched several investigations into former senior government officials allegedly involved in corruption. Albania seeks EU membership.

Former prime minister and president Sali Berisha, now a lawmaker and leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, is also accused of corruption and is under house arrest waiting for the trial.

Soon after Meta’s arrest, Romana Vlahutin, EU ambassador to Tirana when the judicial reform was approved in 2016 and now a European Council official, said on social platform X, “Justice reform in full force! There are no untouchables.”

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Moldova’s EU referendum goes to wire after Sandu decries vote meddling

CHISINAU, Moldova — A knife-edge majority of 50.17% voted “yes” in Moldova’s pivotal referendum on joining the European Union, nearly final results showed on Monday, after President Maia Sandu said Sunday’s twin votes had been marred by “unprecedented” outside interference.

The tight finish – with fewer than 1.5% of the ballots still to be counted – is far from a resounding endorsement of the pro-EU path that Sandu has pursued over four years at the helm of the small ex-Soviet republic tugged between Russia and the West.

A presidential election, which took place simultaneously, handed Sandu 42% of the vote while her main rival, former prosecutor-general Alexandr Stoianoglo won 26%, setting up a tightly fought run-off between the two on Nov. 3.

The votes, which took place after a slew of allegations of election meddling, were seen as a test of the southeast European nation’s commitment to join the European Union and escape Moscow’s orbit for good.

The tight referendum result puts Sandu in a weaker position going into the second round since she has championed EU integration.

Moldova began the long process of formal accession talks in June and under Sandu has aimed to join by 2030. Ties with Moscow have deteriorated as Sandu condemned the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine and diversified energy supply away from Russia.

Stoianoglo has said that, if he comes to power, he would develop a “balanced” foreign policy involving ties with the EU, Russia, United States and China. He boycotted Sunday’s referendum, calling it a ruse to boost Sandu’s haul at the election.

‘Clear evidence’

In the early hours of Monday, Sandu addressed Moldovan citizens, saying there was “clear evidence” that criminal groups working together with “foreign forces hostile to our national interests” had sought to buy off 300,000 votes.

She said this amounted to “fraud of unprecedented scale”.

“Criminal groups… have attacked our country with tens of millions of euros, lies and propaganda, using the most disgraceful means to keep our citizens and our nation trapped in uncertainty and instability,” she said.

While still waiting for the final results, she said, Moldova would “respond with firm decisions,” without elaborating.

In the run-up to the vote, authorities made repeated statements alleging concerted attempts to meddle in the vote by fugitive tycoon Ilan Shor, who lives in Russia.

Russia, which accuses Sandu’s government of “Russophobia,” denied interfering, while Shor denies wrongdoing.

The police accused Shor, who was sentenced to jail in absentia for fraud and a role in the theft of $1 billion, of trying to pay off a network of at least 130,000 voters to vote “no” and support “our candidate” at the election.

Shor has openly offered on social media to pay Moldovans to convince others to vote in a certain way and said that was a legitimate use of money that he earned.

In the early hours of Monday, he declared Moldovans had voted against the referendum.

“Today I congratulate you; you lost the battle,” he added, addressing Sandu simply as Maia.

Ahead of the vote, authorities took down online resources they said hosted disinformation, announced they had uncovered a program in Russia to train Moldovans to stage mass unrest and opened criminal cases against allies of Shor.

As the early results came in late on Sunday, some 57% of Moldovans initially appeared to have voted “no” in the referendum. As more ballots were counted, the “yes” vote gradually rose, overtaking “no” early on Monday morning.

Political analyst Valeriu Pasha said the “yes” vote had edged ahead only because of unusually high voter turnout among the Moldovan diaspora living abroad, who largely support EU integration.

“With such elections, in which dozens of (percentage points) can be bought, it will be very difficult for us going forward. But we must learn lessons and learn to fight this phenomenon,” he said.

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Russian drone attack damages Kyiv residential buildings

Russian drone attacks injured at least one person in Ukraine’s capital, officials in Kyiv said Monday.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram falling debris from drones shot down by Ukrainian air defenses damaged several residential buildings.

Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said on Telegram that as many as a dozen Russian drones were involved in the attack, but that all of them were destroyed.

Russian drones also targeted Mykolaiv, in southern Ukraine. Governor Vitalii Kim said Monday on Telegram that air defenses downed three drones overnight.

Russia’s Defense Ministry reported Monday it destroyed 18 Ukrainian drones launched in overnight attacks.

Eleven of the drones were shot down over the Rostov region, while another four were destroyed over Bryansk, two over Kursk and one over Oryol.

Officials in Kursk reported there were no casualties and no damage reported from the attacks.

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Wounded Ukranian war vets train for wintry sports competition

In February, Canada will host the first-ever winter Invictus Games, an athletic competition for wounded and injured veterans from around the world. This year, 550 athletes from 25 countries will compete in both traditional Invictus Games sports as well as new winter sports. Ukraine will be represented by 35 veterans. Tetiana Kukurika caught up with one of them in this story narrated by Anna Rice.

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Serbia’s president talks with Putin and vows he’ll never impose sanctions on Russia

BELGRADE — European Union candidate Serbia will continue to refuse to impose sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine despite Western pressure, Serbia’s leader said after his telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday.

Populist Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Instagram that he believes the call, what he said was his first in more than two years with the Russian president, will help “further development of relations and trust between Russia and Serbia.”

“We talked as people who have known each other for a long time, as friends, and the ten-minute conversation was marked by a personal note, and we also talked about those who are weak [pro-Western] leaders,” Vucic said.

He did not say whether he would accept an earlier invitation by Putin to attend a BRICS summit of emerging economies, led by Russia and China, in Kazan later this week.

Although formally seeking E.U. membership, traditional Russian Slavic ally Serbia has refused to join Western sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine though it has reluctantly condemned Moscow’s aggression. Vucic has said that imposing the sanctions wasn’t in Serbia’s national interest.

He said Sunday he expects criticism from the West of his conversation with Putin, but stated that “Serbia is a sovereign country which makes its own decisions.”

He also thanked Russia “for providing sufficient quantities of gas for Serbia at favorable prices.” Serbia was almost completely dependent on the Russian gas but has recently agreed to start to diversify its supplies.

Serbia, which was never part of the Soviet bloc, on Sunday marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of its capital Belgrade from the Nazi World War II occupation, which was accomplished mostly thanks to former Yugoslavia’s communist partisans, but also the Soviet Red Army.

Belgrade’s nationalist authorities marked the liberation date with a display of the pro-Russian sentiment, with thousands marching through Belgrade waving Russian flags and chanting slogans.

At a meeting marking the anniversary, Vucic delivered a speech in the Russian language, which he said is a sign of respect for the Red Army, without which “there would not have been the liberation of Belgrade.”

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Iran protests EU support for UAE over disputed islands 

Tehran — Iran summoned the ambassador of Hungary, whose country holds the rotating European Union presidency, to protest a joint E.U.-Gulf Cooperation Council statement on islands controlled by Iran but claimed by the UAE, state media reported Sunday. 

The statement, published after the first summit between the two regional blocs on Wednesday, said, “We call on Iran to end its occupation of the three islands of the United Arab Emirates, Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa, which constitutes a violation of the sovereignty of the UAE and the principles of the Charter of the U.N.” 

The islands located near the Strait of Hormuz, a globally vital shipping lane, have been disputed between the United Arab Emirates and Iran for decades.  

Tehran has controlled the islands since 1971 at the end of British imperial rule over them. 

“The Hungarian ambassador was summoned to the Iranian foreign ministry to protest against the repetition of certain baseless claims in the joint declaration from the leaders of the EU and the GCC,” the official IRNA news agency reported.   

The foreign ministry called the EU’s stance “thoughtless, irresponsible and void of any legal basis,” IRNA added.  

On Monday, the European Union accused Tehran of supplying missiles and drones to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine and imposed fresh sanctions on the country. 

In April 2023, Iran appointed an ambassador to the UAE for the first time in nearly eight years as part of improving diplomatic relations with Gulf Arab states. 

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Libyan held in Germany over suspected Israel embassy plot 

Berlin — A Libyan suspected of planning an attack on the Israeli embassy in Berlin and links to the Islamic State group will appear before a judge on Sunday, German prosecutors said. 

 

The suspect, identified only as Omar A., was arrested on Saturday evening at his home in Bernau, just outside the German capital, the federal prosecutors’ office said. 

 

Omar A. was accused of planning a “high-profile attack with firearms” on the Israeli Embassy in Berlin, they said. 

 

As part of his preparations, Omar A. was suspected of having “exchanges with a member of IS in a messenger chat,” said the prosecutors, who described him as a supporter of the group’s ideology. 

 

In a message on X, Israel’s ambassador to Berlin said, “Muslim anti-Semitism is no longer just hate rhetoric. It leads to and encourages terrorist activities worldwide.” 

 

Israeli embassies were “on the front line of the diplomatic battlefield,” ambassador Ron Prosor said. 

 

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said protecting Jewish and Israeli institutions in Germany was “of the utmost importance to us.” 

 

Law enforcement were acting with the “utmost vigilance” to prevent any suspected “Islamist, antisemitic and anti-Israel violence,” Faeser said.   

 

Foreign tipoff   

 

Prosecutors said Omar A. would appear on Sunday before a judge who would decide if he should be remanded in custody. 

Authorities said they searched the 28-year-old’s home in Bernau on Saturday. 

 

They also searched the property near Bonn of another person “not suspected” of involvement in the alleged plan. 

 

German daily Bild said the flat in the town of Sankt Augustin near Bonn belonged to the suspect’s uncle, who was being treated as a witness. 

 

German authorities arrested Omar A. after a tipoff from a foreign intelligence agency, Bild said, adding that he had not been on any militant watchlist in Germany. 

 

Bild said the Libyan man was thought to have entered Germany in November 2022 and to have made a request for asylum the following January, which was rejected in September 2023. 

 

Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and Israel’s retaliatory onslaught on Gaza, German authorities have increased vigilance about possible Islamist threats and antisemitism. 

 

In early September, Munich police shot dead a young Austrian man known for his links to radical Islamism after he opened fire at the Israeli Consulate and on police. 

 

In early October, there were explosions near the Israeli Embassy in Denmark and gunfire near its mission in Sweden. 

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Kyiv launches more than 100 drones over Russia as a missile strike on Ukraine injures 17 

KYIV — Russian air defenses shot down more than 100 Ukrainian drones Sunday over Russia’s western regions, Moscow officials said, while 17 people were injured in the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih in a ballistic missile attack. 

The Russian Defense Ministry said 110 drones were destroyed in the overnight barrage against seven Russian regions. Many targeted Russia’s border region of Kursk, where 43 drones were reportedly shot down. 

Social media footage appeared to show air defenses at work over the city of Dzerzhinsk in the Nizhny Novgorod region, close to a factory producing explosives. 

Local Gov. Gleb Nikitin wrote on social media Sunday that four fire fighters had been injured repelling a drone attack over Dzerzhinsk’s industrial zone, but did not give further details. 

Such large-scale aerial attacks are still relatively rare over Russia 2½  years after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 

A similar attack at the end of September saw Russia’s Ministry of Defense report the destruction of 125 drones across seven regions. 

Meanwhile, 17 people were injured in Ukraine’s Kryvyi Rih after the city was hit with two Russian ballistic missiles, officials said Sunday. 

The attack late Saturday evening damaged homes and businesses, said local administration head Oleksandr Vilkul. 

The Ukrainian air force said that Russia launched 49 drones and two Iskander-M ballistic missiles in total overnight. It said 31 of the drones were shot down over 12 regions, including the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, while another 13 disappeared from radar — suggesting they were knocked out by electronic defenses. 

In a statement on social media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia had launched some 800 guided aerial bombs and more than 500 attack drones over Ukraine in the past week alone. 

“Every day, Russia strikes our cities and communities. It is deliberate terror from the enemy against our people,” he said, renewing calls for continued air support from the country’s allies. 

“United in defense, the world can stand against this targeted terror.” 

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Demonstrators in France praise Gisèle Pélicot’s courage in harrowing rape trial

PARIS — Women and men demonstrated together Saturday in Paris and other French cities in support of Gisèle Pélicot and against sexual violence highlighted by the harrowing trial of her ex-husband and dozens of other men accused of rapes while she was drugged and unconscious.

The demonstrations outside Paris’ criminal court, in the southeastern city of Lyon and elsewhere underscored how Pélicot’s courage in speaking out about her ordeal is inspiring people in France and beyond, even as they’ve been horrified by the scale and brutality of the abuse she suffered over the course of a decade.

Since the September 2 beginning of the extraordinary trial, during which Pélicot has faced 51 of her alleged rapists, she has been praised for her composure and decision to keep the hearings public — after the court initially suggested that they be held behind closed doors.

“She has decided to make this an emblematic trial,” said Elsa Labouret, one of the Paris demonstrators and a spokesperson for the women’s group “Osez le féminisme!” (Dare to be feminist!)

“Victims don’t have to do what she did. They have a right to have their anonymity protected. It’s not necessarily a duty of any victim. But what she decided to do is very, very important because now we cannot ignore the violence that some men can resort to,” she said.

Demonstrators denounced what they said is laxity from the French justice system toward sexual violence and fears of being raped and assaulted that they said stalk women day-in, day-out.

Placards they held up read: “Shame must change sides,” “Stop the denial,” “Not your punching ball” and “We are all Gisele. Are you all Dominique???”

Dominique Pélicot admitted during the trial that for nearly a decade, he repeatedly drugged his unwitting wife and invited dozens of men to rape her while she lay unconscious in their bed.

He told the court that he also raped Gisèle and that the 50 other men also standing trial understood exactly what they were doing. She has divorced him since his arrest. The trial is expected to run until December.

The defendants range in age from 26 to 74. Many of them deny having raped Gisèle Pélicot, saying her then-husband manipulated them or that they believed she was consenting.

“You can never know who is a rapist or who is a monster. Like, it could be your neighbor, it could be anyone,” said Paris demonstrator Khalil Ndiaye, a student.

“It’s really disgusting somehow to think that it could be people that you know, people that you hang out with every day and, like, they could do things like that.”

He said he regards Gisèle Pélicot as an icon.

“Because in her pain, she decided not to give up and not to just lie down,” he said. “She decided to fight. And we’re all here today because she’s fighting and she’s inspiring us to fight, too.”

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6-time Olympic cycling champion Hoy reveals he has terminal cancer

Britain’s six-time Olympic track cycling champion Chris Hoy has revealed he has “two to four years” to live after he was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer which metastasized to his bones.

The announcement comes after the 48-year-old Scot said in February he was feeling “optimistic and positive” as he was undergoing treatment for an unspecified cancer diagnosed last year.

However, the sprinter, who worked as a pundit with the BBC at last summer’s Paris Games, has now revealed he has known for more than a year that his cancer is incurable.

Despite his illness, Hoy says he remains positive and appreciating life.

“Hand on heart, I’m pretty positive most of the time and I have genuine happiness,” Hoy told The Times.

“This is bigger than the Olympics. It’s bigger than anything. This is about appreciating life and finding joy.”

“As unnatural as it feels, this is nature. You know, we were all born and we all die, and this is just part of the process.”

Hoy wrote a memoir about his life over the past year in which he describes how doctors discovered his cancer after initially finding a tumor in his shoulder.

The father of two also said he had an allergic reaction to his chemotherapy treatment, feeling “completely devastated at the end of it.”

On top of his own treatment, Hoy was dealt another blow when his wife Sarra Kemp was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in November.

“But you remind yourself, aren’t I lucky that there is medicine I can take that will fend this off for as long as possible,” an optimistic Hoy said.

“I’m not just saying these words. I’ve learnt to live in the moment, and I have days of genuine joy and happiness.”

“It’s absolutely not denial or self-delusion. It’s about trying to recognize, what do we have control over?

“The fear and anxiety, it all comes from trying to predict the future. But the future is this abstract concept in our minds. None of us know what’s going to happen. The one thing we know is we’ve got a finite time on the planet.”

Hoy was at the vanguard of Britain’s era of domination in track cycling, winning gold medals at the Athens, Beijing and London Olympics. He also claimed 11 world titles during a glittering career.

Until 2021 Hoy was the most successful British Olympian and the most successful Olympic cyclist of all time before being overtaken by fellow Briton Jason Kenny who claimed his seventh Olympic gold at the Tokyo Games.

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German police arrest Libyan suspected of planning attack on Israeli embassy

German police have arrested a Libyan suspected of belonging to the Islamic State group and of having planned an attack on the Israeli embassy, federal prosecutors told Agence France-Presse on Saturday. 

“There is some suggestion he had planned an attack on the Israeli embassy in Berlin,” said a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, adding that the suspect was also thought to be affiliated with the Islamic State group. 

Bild daily reported that police commandoes had stormed a flat in Bernau, north of Berlin, in the evening and arrested the 28-year-old man. 

The newspaper said German authorities had acted on a tip-off from a foreign intelligence agency. 

Israel’s ambassador to Berlin, Ron Prosor, thanked German authorities for “ensuring the security of our embassy” in a message on the social media platform X. 

Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered the war in the Gaza Strip, German authorities have increased their vigilance against Islamist militant threats and the resurgence of anti-Semitism, like in many countries around the world. 

In early September, Munich police shot dead a young Austrian man known for his links to radical Islamism after he opened fire at the Israeli consulate. 

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Ukraine, Russia report aerial attacks on capital cities

Ukraine’s military deployed air-defense systems late Saturday to repel an aerial assault on Kyiv, according to the capital’s top elected official. 

“Stay in shelters!” Mayor Vitali Klitschko warned on the Telegram messaging app, according to Reuters, which was unable to independently confirm the scope of the aerial assault. 

Hours later, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin used the same messaging app to say Russian defense forces had destroyed at least one drone flying towards the capital city.   

According to Reuters, preliminary information indicated reports of damage or casualties where debris fell in the Ramensky district of the Moscow region. 

Reuters was unable to independently confirm the scope of the aerial assault on Kyiv.   

Saturday’s attack on Kyiv follows a visit to the city by French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, who said a Ukrainian defeat would mean “chaos” for the international order. 

According to Agence France-Presse, Barrot’s speech came hours after Russian forces issued a statement claiming that they’d captured another village in the country’s east. 

Barrot’s visit, aimed at underlining Paris’ unflinching support for Ukraine, comes at the end of a week in which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy unveiled his “victory plan” to defeat Russia, again calling for beefed-up Western backing. 

“A Russian victory would consecrate the law of the strongest and precipitate the international order towards chaos,” said Barrot, who also warned that recent reports of North Korean regular troops supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, if verified, would constitute a serious escalation of the war.

France’s top diplomat also said Paris was open to the idea of an immediate invitation for Ukraine to join NATO, but that talks would continue on the subject with allies. 

Barrot’s stop in Kyiv coincided with the G7 defense ministerial meeting in Naples, Italy, which saw a pledge of “unwavering” support for Ukraine, including vows of military aid, according to a final statement.   

“We underscore our intent to continue to provide assistance to Ukraine, including military assistance in the short and long term,” read the group’s final statement following the one-day summit. 

Information in this report is from Reuters and Agence France-Presse. 

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Video published by Ukraine purports to show North Korean soldiers in Russia

kyiv, ukraine — A video purporting to show dozens of North Korean recruits lining up to collect Russian military fatigues and gear aims to intimidate Ukrainian forces and marks a new chapter in the 2 1/2-year war with the introduction of another country into the battlefield, Ukrainian officials said. 

The video, which was obtained by Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security, which operates under the Culture and Information Ministry, is said to show North Korean soldiers standing in line to pick up bags, clothes and other apparel from Russian servicemen. The Associated Press could not verify the video independently. 

“We received this video from our own sources. We cannot provide additional verification from the sources who provided it to us due to security concerns,” said Ihor Solovey, head of the center. 

“The video clearly shows North Korean citizens being given Russian uniforms under the direction of the Russian military,” he said. “For Ukraine, this video is important because it is the first video evidence that shows North Korea participating in the war on the side of Russia. Now not only with weapons and shells but also with personnel.” 

The center claims the footage was shot by a Russian soldier in recent days. The location is unknown. 

It comes after the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said in local media reports that about 11,000 North Korean infantrymen were currently training in eastern Russia. He predicted they would be ready to join the fighting by November. At least 2,600 would be sent to Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukraine launched an incursion in August, he was quoted as saying. 

“The emergence of any number of new soldiers is a problem because we will simply need new, additional weapons to destroy them all,” Solovey told AP. “The dissemination of this video is important as a signal to the world community that with two countries officially at war against Ukraine, we will need more support to repel this aggression.” 

The presence of North Korean soldiers in Ukraine, if true, would be another proof of intensified military ties between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Last summer, they signed a strategic partnership treaty that commits both countries to provide military assistance. North Korean weapons have already been used in the Ukraine war. 

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