state department — Top diplomatic and military officials from the United States and South Korea are set to convene in Washington this Thursday as the two allies closely monitor and express concerns about North Korea’s deployment of about 10,000 troops to Russia.

Meanwhile, U.S. officials and analysts say that China could be displeased by Russia’s growing influence over North Korea, and that if Beijing chose, it could restrict exports of materials that Pyongyang might use for munitions production.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will co-host South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yul and Minister of Defense Kim Yong-hyun to coordinate on pressing security threats facing the alliance.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told VOA during Monday’s briefing that high on the agenda would be discussion of “North Korea’s expanding relationship with Russia,” which includes the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia;  various other provocative actions by North Korea in recent months; and the U.S. commitment to security in the Indo-Pacific region.

The consultation between Washington and Seoul will come two weeks after establishment of the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team, a group formed by the United States, South Korea, Japan and other allies to better coordinate enforcement of sanctions against North Korea.

The group said that while “the path to dialogue” with North Korea remained open, it was committed to “safeguard the global nonproliferation regime and address the threat arising from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s [DPRK, North Korea’s official name] weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs, which are in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.”

Some analysts suggest that by sending troops to support Russia’s war on Ukraine, North Korea may gain an opportunity to test the effectiveness of its ballistic missiles and munitions.

“We have communicated with the PRC about this matter to make clear that we are concerned about it, and that they ought to be concerned about this destabilizing action by two of its neighbors, Russia and North Korea,” Miller added. He was referring to People’s Republic of China.

Victor Cha, Korea chair at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, noted that while China has been supportive of Russia’s war in Ukraine, North Korea’s involvement introduces an unsettling dynamic.

“For one,” Cha said, “China does not like Russia to have so much influence over North Korea.”

Cha added that Beijing could take specific actions, such as curbing exports of petroleum coke to North Korea, which can be used in munitions production.

“According to recent public reports, imports of this good [used for steel production] have dramatically increased while overall trade has only slowly started to return to normal,” he said.

Defense Department spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said Austin would also meet with his South Korean counterpart Wednesday, when he will host Kim at the Pentagon for the 56th U.S.-ROK Security Consultative Meeting. ROK refers to South Korea’s official name, the Republic of Korea.

VOA Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this report.
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PENTAGON — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Tuesday that military cooperation between North Korea and Russia “poses a significant security threat to the international community.”

The comments at a Cabinet meeting in Seoul followed Yoon saying Monday that the deployment of North Korean troops to the battlefield in Ukraine could happen “more quickly than anticipated,” according to South Korean intelligence assessments.

The U.S. Defense Department said Monday that North Korea has sent about 10,000 troops to train in Russia, more than tripling the previous estimate. 

 

“We believe that the DPRK has sent around 10,000 soldiers in total to train in eastern Russia that will probably augment Russian forces near Ukraine over the next several weeks,” deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters at the Pentagon, using an abbreviation for North Korea’s official name. 

“A portion of those soldiers have already moved closer to Ukraine, and we are increasingly concerned that Russia intends to use these soldiers in combat or to support combat operations against Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk oblast, near the border with Ukraine,” she added.

Earlier on Monday, NATO confirmed that 3,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Russia to help Moscow fight its war against Ukraine and have also been deployed to Russia’s Kursk region where Kyiv’s forces invaded in a surprise attack in August and still hold territory.

“The deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea is a threat to both Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic security,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told reporters in Brussels after NATO officials and diplomats received a briefing from a South Korean delegation of intelligence and military officials. 

The NATO secretary general said the deployment of North Korean troops was a sign of “growing desperation” on the part of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Rutte added that more than 600,000 Russian forces have been killed or wounded since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The Pentagon did not provide further details on the type of troops or equipment that North Korea had sent with their troops. When pressed by VOA on what types of capabilities these troops could bring, Singh said, “It’s additional bodies on the battlefield.”

“If we see DPRK troops moving in and towards the front lines, they are co-belligerents in the war,” she warned.

Russia and North Korea have boosted their political and military alliance since Moscow’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. Gen. David Allvin, the chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force, told VOA Friday at a Military Reporters and Editors conference that increased cooperation between the two malign actors is “certainly a cause for more consideration and investigation.”

The Kremlin had dismissed reports about a North Korean troop deployment as “fake news.” But Putin last week did not deny that North Korean troops were currently in Russia and said that it was up to Moscow to decide how to deploy them as part of a mutual defense security pact he signed with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June.

At odds with Putin’s comments, a North Korean representative to the United Nations in New York last week characterized the reports of Pyongyang’s deployment of troops in Russia as “groundless rumors.” 

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will host his South Korean counterpart, Kim Yong-Hyun, on Wednesday at the Pentagon, where the two are expected to discuss the North Korean troops who are now in Russia.

Drone warfare 

Ukrainian officials said Tuesday that Russian aerial attacks killed at least four people in the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine.

Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said on Telegram the attack destroyed two houses and damaged about 20 others.

Russian attacks overnight also targeted Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, injuring at least six people, according to Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration.

Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said falling debris from a downed Russian drone ignited a fire at a residential building.

In the Dnipropetrovsk region in central Ukraine, officials said a Russian rocket attack killed one person.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday it shot down seven Ukrainian drones overnight, including two over the Belgorod region, two over Bryansk, two over Kursk and one over the Black Sea.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram the Ukrainian attack damaged several residential buildings.

Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters
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RABAT, Morocco — Morocco’s King Mohammed VI welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron to Morocco on Monday, kicking off a state visit with a series of bilateral agreements, including major investments in renewable energy and transportation.

Macron’s trip to Morocco — his first in six years — comes as immigrants, including North Africans, face continued scrutiny in France and while France reassesses its role in its former colonies throughout Africa. Morocco has historically been a key economic and security partner, but relations between the two countries have often been fragile.

Among the objectives of Macron’s visit, the Elysee Palace said, is “to rebuild the exceptional partnership that links our two countries.”

French and Moroccan flags on Monday flew throughout the capital, where crowds lined the streets to watch the motorcade containing Macron, his wife and members of Morocco’s royal family drive to one of their palaces.

Macron and Mohammed VI, who used a cane to walk, later oversaw a ceremonial signing of 22 agreements to facilitate future investments as well as cultural and scientific partnerships. The investments are worth a total of 10 billion euros and include expanding Morocco’s high-speed rail line southward to Marrakech, which the country hopes to complete before it holds events for the FIFA World Cup in 2030.

Also included were plans to develop green hydrogen, wind farms and water projects, which Morocco has identified as needed to help insulate the country from the effects of climate change.

In the days leading up to the visit, Moroccan publications lauded the “warm reunion” and a “new honeymoon” between the two countries.

Warmer ties

Macron changed France’s long-standing public position and backed Morocco’s autonomy plan for the disputed Western Sahara. Doing so endeared France to Morocco but alienated it from Algeria, which hosts refugee camps governed by the pro-independence Polisario Front and considers Morocco an occupying power.

France and Morocco have historically partnered on issues ranging from counterterrorism to migration. Morocco is the top destination for French investment in Africa and France is Morocco’s top trade partner. Morocco imports French cereals, weapons and renewable energy infrastructure, like turbines. France imports goods from Morocco including tomatoes, cars and airplane parts.

Moroccans are among the largest foreign-born communities in France, where North African immigrants are a key political constituency and a focal point of debates about the roles of Islam and immigration in French society.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, a member of the French delegation in Morocco this week, has pushed for the country to take a hard-line approach toward immigration and seek deals with countries like Morocco to better prevent would-be migrants from crossing into Europe.

On Macron’s last visit to Morocco, he and King Mohammed VI inaugurated Al Boraq, Africa’s first high-speed rail line, made possible by French financing and trains manufactured by the French firm Alstrom. The rail line currently functions from central to northern Morocco, running from Kenitra to Tangiers. The extension will more than double its length.

Despite close ties, relations have at times been fragile between France and Morocco, which was a French protectorate from 1912 to 1956. In 2021, Morocco suspended consular relations after France momentarily reduced the number of visas offered to Moroccans in protest of its refusal to provide documents needed to deport people who migrated to France without authorization. France later reversed the decision.

Relations between the two countries soured further that year, when a 2021 report revealed Morocco’s security services had used Israeli spyware to infiltrate the devices of activists and politicians, including Macron. Morocco denied and sued over the allegations. 
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TBILISI — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrived in Georgia on Monday after having congratulated the ruling party on its victory in an election which the opposition says was marred by voting violations. 

Georgia’s electoral commission said Georgian Dream won Saturday’s election with nearly 54% of the vote, but opposition parties disputed the results and called for protests. 

The election results are a blow for pro-Western Georgians who had cast the vote as a choice between a ruling party that has deepened ties with Russia and an opposition aiming to fast-track integration with Europe. 

Orban congratulated Georgian Dream party on their victory on Saturday.  

“The people of Georgia know what is best for their country, and made their voice heard today!” he wrote on X. 

Orban was accompanied on his visit to Georgia by Hungary’s finance, economy and foreign ministers.  

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto wrote on Facebook on Monday the Georgian result was an “ugly defeat” for liberals. 

Hungary — which currently holds the presidency of the EU Council — has angered fellow members of the EU and NATO with its determination to maintain close ties with Russia despite the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. 

The European Union, the United States and NATO have called for a full investigation of alleged election irregularities. Georgian Dream and the electoral commission say the vote was free and fair. 

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili called the result a “Russian special operation,” accused the ruling party on Monday of resorting to Russian-style tactics and propaganda, and called for Georgians to take to the streets on Monday evening.  

The Kremlin on Monday denied any Russian interference in the vote, saying it was the West, not Moscow, that was trying to destabilize the situation. 

In July, Orban stoked controversy when he traveled on what the Hungarian government has described as a “peace mission” to Moscow and Beijing during Hungary’s presidency without coordinating with its EU partners. 

 
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Ankara is watching the U.S. elections closely. Analysts say Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stands to benefit from either a Donald Trump or Kamala Harris victory, but both scenarios come with risks for the Turkish leader and his aspirations. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
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VILNIUS — The opposition Social Democrats claimed victory in Lithuania’s parliamentary election on Sunday, which was dominated by frustration with the cost of living and worries over potential threats from neighboring Russia.

The left-leaning grouping has pledged to maintain the Baltic state’s hefty defense spending program, while criticizing the center-right coalition government of Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte over raising taxes to fund it.

Official government data showed the center-left grouping leading with 52 seats in the 141-member assembly, after 99% of the vote was counted. The ruling Homeland Union Party was on track to take second place with 28 seats.

The Baltic country of 2.9 million people has a hybrid voting system in which half of parliament was elected by popular vote on Oct. 13. The remainder was decided on Sunday in district-based run-off votes between the top two candidates, a process that favors the larger parties.

SD leader Vilija Blinkeviciute told reporters she believed her party would have a parliamentary majority alongside its likely coalition partners: For Lithuania, plus The Farmers and Greens Union.

“The results of this election showed that the Lithuanian people, no matter where they live, in large cities, in small cities or villages, they want change.”

She declined to confirm whether she would seek the job of prime minister: “We will discuss this within the party, we will weigh all pluses and minuses.”

The For Lithuania party was on track to win 14 seats in the parliament and The Farmers and Greens Union was getting eight seats, provisional official data showed.

Simonyte’s center-right three-party coalition has seen its popularity eroded by inflation that topped 20% two years ago, deteriorating public services and a widening rich-poor gap.

Domestic economic issues were in focus during the election campaign, with the SD vowing to tackle increased inequality by raising taxes on wealthier Lithuanians to help fund more spending on healthcare and social support.

But national security is also a major concern in Lithuania, which lies on the eastern flank of NATO and the European Union and shares a border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and Belarus, a close Moscow ally.

Lithuania will spend about 3% of GDP on its armed forces this year, according to NATO estimates, making it the military alliance’s sixth-biggest spender.

“For me, it’s of utmost importance to keep the calmness, and to stop the war in Ukraine,” said Mykolas Zvinys, 79, before casting his vote on the outskirts of Vilnius.

Three-quarters of Lithuanians think Russia could attack their country in the near future, a Baltijos Tyrimai/ELTA opinion poll found in May, following its attack on Ukraine in 2022.

 
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NATO confirmed Monday that North Korean troops have been sent to Russia to help Moscow fight its war against Ukraine and have also been deployed to Russia’s Kursk region where Kyiv’s forces invaded in a surprise attack in August and still hold territory.

“The deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea is a threat to both Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic security,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told reporters in Brussels after NATO officials and diplomats received a briefing from a South Korean delegation of intelligence and military officials.

Rutte said the North Korean deployment of 3,000 troops represented “a significant escalation” of Pyongyang’s involvement in “Russia’s illegal war” in Ukraine, a breach of U.N. Security Council resolutions and a “dangerous expansion” of the 32-month war.

The NATO secretary general said the deployment of North Korean troops was a sign of “growing desperation” on the part of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Over 600,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in Putin’s war and he is unable to sustain his assault on Ukraine without foreign support,” said Rutte.

The Kremlin had dismissed reports about a North Korean troop deployment as “fake news.” But Putin last week did not deny that North Korean troops were currently in Russia and said that it was up to Moscow to decide how to deploy them as part of a mutual defense security pact he signed with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June.

At odds with Putin’s comments, a North Korean representative to the United Nations in New York last week characterized the reports of Pyongyang’s deployment of troops in Russia as “groundless rumors.”

Drone warfare

On the battlefront, Ukraine’s military said Monday that Russian forces attacked overnight with 100 aerial drones targeting areas across the country.

The Ukrainian air force said it shot down 66 of the drones, with most of the intercepts taking place over the Cherkasy, Khmelnytskyi and Kyiv regions.

Ukrainian air defense also downed drones over Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Rivne, Ternopil and Zhytomyr.

Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on Telegram that Russian attacks hit residential buildings in the city of Kherson, killing at least two people.

In Kharkiv, officials reported strikes from Russian guided bombs and shelling, including attacks that damaged an apartment building and a house.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram there were at least 13 people injured in the attacks that hit three districts of the city.

Russia’s Defense Ministry reported Monday it destroyed 21 Ukrainian drones that were used in overnight attacks.

The ministry said Russian air defense destroyed 13 of the drones over the Belgorod region, six over Byransk, one over Voronezh and one over Kursk.

Voronezh Governor Alexander Gusev said drones damaged two businesses and injured two people.

Some information for this story was provided by Reuters.
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STOCKHOLM — Seven European countries have changed their laws to increase employee ownership in startups to rival the U.S. in attracting talent and investment, while other countries are lagging, a report by venture capital firm Index Ventures found.

While stock options were integral to Silicon Valley’s success, Europe has been hampered by bureaucracy and by taxing employees too early, among other restrictions.

The European Union needs a coordinated industrial policy, rapid decisions and massive investment if it wants to keep pace with the U.S. and China economically, Mario Draghi said in a long awaited report last month.

Over 500 startup CEOs and founders joined a campaign called “Not Optional” in 2019 to change rules that govern employee ownership — the practice of giving staff options to acquire a slice of the company, as European-based companies compete for talent with U.S. firms.

Germany, France, Portugal and the UK lead European countries in making changes that match or exceed those of the U.S., while Finland, Switzerland, Norway and Sweden got lower ratings in the Index report.

When companies such as Revolut and others go public, that ownership translates into real money for employees, said Martin Mignot, a partner at Index and an investor at fintech Revolut, which is valued at $45 billion.
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Ukrainian officials said Monday that Russian aerial attacks overnight killed at least one person in Kherson and injured several people in Kharkiv.

Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on Telegram that Russian shelling hit residential buildings in the city of Kherson.

In Kharkiv, officials reported strikes from Russian guided bombs and shelling, including attacks that damaged an apartment building and a house.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram there were at least 13 people injured in the attacks that hit three districts of the city.

Russia’s Defense Ministry reported Monday it destroyed 21 Ukrainian drones that were used in overnight attacks.

The ministry said Russian air defense destroyed 13 of the drones over the Belgorod region, six over Byransk, one over Voronezh and one over Kursk.

Voronezh Governor Alexander Gusev said drones damaged two businesses and injured two people.

Some information for this story was provided by Reuters

 
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TBILISI — Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili called on Sunday for people to take to the streets to protest the results of Saturday’s disputed parliamentary election, which the electoral commission said the ruling party had won. 

The Georgian Dream party clinched nearly 54% of the vote, the commission said, as opposition parties contested the result and vote monitors reported significant violations. 

Zourabichvili, a former Georgian Dream ally turned fierce critic of the ruling party, said she did not recognize the results and referred to the vote as a “Russian special operation.” She did not clarify whether she believed Russia had a direct role in the elections. 

“It was a total fraud, a total taking away of your votes,” Zourabichvili told reporters, flanked by Georgian opposition party leaders. 

Zourabichvili called on Georgians to protest in the center of the capital, Tbilisi, on Monday evening “to announce to the world that we do not recognize these elections.” 

The results, with almost all precincts counted, were a blow for pro-Western Georgians who had cast the election as a choice between a ruling party that has deepened ties with Russia and an opposition aiming to fast-track integration with Europe. 

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, who is a member of Georgian Dream, on Sunday described his party’s victory as “impressive and obvious,” and said “any attempts to talk about election manipulation … are doomed to failure.”

Georgian Dream, now headed for a fourth term in office, will take 89 seats in parliament, one less than it secured in 2020, the commission said, with four pro-Western opposition parties receiving 61 seats in total. 

A series of violations were reported on Sunday by three separate monitoring missions, including the 57-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). 

The groups said the alleged violations, including ballot-stuffing, bribery, voter intimidation and violence near polling stations, could have affected the result but stopped short of calling the outcome fraudulent. 

“We continue to express deep concerns about the democratic backsliding in Georgia,” said Antonio Lopez-Isturiz White, head of the European Parliament’s delegation to the OSCE mission. 

“The conduct of yesterday’s election is unfortunately evidence to that effect,” he told reporters. 

In a post on X, European Council President Charles Michel called on Georgia’s electoral commission to fully investigate the reported violations. 

“We reiterate the EU’s call to the Georgian leadership to demonstrate its firm commitment to the country’s EU path,” he said. 

The electoral commission did not respond immediately to requests for comment, but on Saturday hailed a free and fair election. Prime Minister Kobakhidze said the observers’ conclusions showed there was no doubt about the election’s legitimacy. 

Georgia’s four pro-Western opposition parties said they did not recognize the results, and some members pledged to boycott the new parliament and called for supporters to take to the streets. 

Coalition for Change opposition party leader Nika Gvaramia called the vote “a constitutional coup” and a “usurpation of power.” His party cited two exit polls that showed the opposition winning a majority of seats in parliament. 

The leader of the United National Movement opposition party, Tina Bokuchava, said the election had been “stolen,” calling for protests. 

EU expansion challenge 

Georgian Dream’s reclusive billionaire founder, Bidzina Ivanishvili, who campaigned heavily on keeping Georgia out of the war in Ukraine, hailed the party’s victory on Saturday night after its strongest performance since 2012. 

Electoral commission data showed it winning by huge margins of up to 90% in some rural areas, though it underperformed in bigger cities. 

Georgian Dream says it wants Georgia to join the European Union, though Brussels says the Caucasus country’s membership application is frozen over what it says are the party’s authoritarian tendencies. 

It has pushed through a law on “foreign agents” and another curbing LGBT rights, both of which drew strong criticism from Western countries but were praised by some Russian officials. 

For years, Georgia was one of the most pro-Western countries to emerge from the Soviet Union, with polls showing many Georgians disliking Russia for its support of two breakaway regions of their country. 

Russia and Georgia fought a brief war over the rebel province of South Ossetia in 2008. Georgia was defeated. 

But the election result poses a challenge to the EU’s ambition to bring in more ex-Soviet states. 

Last week, Moldova voted narrowly to approve its EU accession in a vote that Moldovan officials said was marred by Russian interference. 

An EU official told Reuters there was “a sense of disappointment” over the Georgian opposition’s performance, but Brussels was primarily concerned about a contested result leading to a standoff. 

The German, Estonian, Latvian foreign ministries said they were concerned by the reports of electoral irregularities. 

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who was quick to congratulate Georgian Dream, planned to visit the country on Monday, the Georgian government said. 
…

VILNIUS, Lithuania — The opposition Social Democrats took an early lead in the second round of Lithuania’s parliamentary election on Sunday, with voters focusing on concerns over the cost of living and potential threats from neighboring Russia. 

Official government data showed the center-left grouping leading with 33 seats after 64% of the vote was counted on top of 20 secured in the first round, in the 141-member assembly, ahead of the ruling Homeland Union Party which led in six constituencies in addition to 18 first-round wins. 

The Baltic country of 2.9 million people has a hybrid voting system in which half of parliament is elected by popular vote. The remainder is decided in district-based run-off votes between the top two candidates, a process that favors the larger parties. 

If the Social Democrats, or SD, succeed in forming a government, they are expected to maintain Lithuania’s hawkish stance against Russia and hefty defense spending. 

Lithuania will spend about 3% of GDP on its armed forces this year, according to NATO estimates, making it the military alliance’s sixth-biggest spender. 

Full results are expected at about midnight (2200 GMT). 

“Probably there will be some changes, but I want to believe that direction will remain the same,” Marius Slepetis, a businessman, told Reuters after his young daughter dropped his ballot into the box. 

The SD won 20% of the vote in the first round on Oct. 13, making it the largest party ahead of the ruling Homeland Union with 18% and the anti-establishment Nemunas Dawn with 15%. 

Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte’s center-right three-party coalition has seen its popularity eroded by inflation that topped 20% two years ago, deteriorating public services and a widening rich-poor gap. 

After the first round, SD leader Vilija Blinkeviciute said she was already in talks about forming a majority coalition government with two other parties – For Lithuania, and the Farmers and Greens Union. 

The SD made a pact with opposition parties to support all run-off candidates in contests against Simonyte’s Homeland Union nominees. 

Domestic economic issues were in focus during the election campaign, with the SD vowing to tackle increased inequality by raising taxes on wealthier Lithuanians to help fund more spending on health care and social support. 

But national security is also a major concern in Lithuania, which lies on the eastern flank of NATO and the European Union and shares a border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and Belarus, a close Moscow ally. 

“For me, it’s of utmost importance to keep the calmness, and to stop the war in Ukraine,” Mykolas Zvinys, 79, told Reuters before casting his vote on the outskirts of Vilnius. 

Three-quarters of Lithuanians think Russia could attack their country in the near future, a Baltijos Tyrimai/ELTA opinion poll found in May.
…

Kyiv, Ukraine — Russian forces thwarted an attempt at another cross-border incursion by Ukraine into southwestern Russia, a local official reported Sunday, months after Kyiv staged a bold assault on its nuclear-armed enemy that Moscow is still struggling to halt.

An “armed group” sought Sunday to breach the border between Ukraine and Russia’s Bryansk region, its governor, Aleksandr Bogomaz, said but was beaten back. Bogomaz did not clarify whether Ukrainian soldiers carried out the alleged attack but claimed on Sunday evening that the situation was “stable and under control” by the Russian military.

There was no immediate acknowledgement or response from Ukrainian officials.

The region neighbors Kursk province, where Ukraine launched a surprise push on Aug. 6 that rattled the Kremlin and constituted the largest attack on Russia since World War II. Hundreds of Russian prisoners were blindfolded and ferried away in trucks in the opening moments of the lightning advance, and Ukraine’s battle-hardened units swiftly pressed on across hundreds of square kilometers of territory.

Responsibility for previous incursions into Russia’s Belgorod and Bryansk regions has been claimed by two murky groups: the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion.

Russian officials and state media have sought to downplay the significance of Kyiv’s thunderous run in Kursk, but the country’s forces have so far been unable to dislodge Ukrainian troops from the province. Western officials have speculated that Moscow may send troops from North Korea to bolster its effort to do so, stoking the almost three-year war and bringing geopolitical consequences as far away as the Indo-Pacific region.

Russian lawmakers Thursday ratified a pact with Pyongyang envisioning mutual military assistance, a move that comes as the United States confirmed the deployment of 3,000 North Korean troops to Russia.

North Korean units were detected Wednesday in Kursk, according to Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate, known by its acronym GUR. The soldiers had undergone several weeks of training at bases in eastern Russia and had been equipped with clothes for the coming winter, the GUR said in a statement late Thursday. It did not provide evidence for its claims.

Moscow warns West against approving long-range strikes against Russia

Also on Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow is working on ways to respond if the U.S. and its NATO allies allow Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia with long-range Western missiles.

Putin told Russian state TV that it was too early to say exactly how Moscow might react, but the defense ministry has been mulling a range of options.

Russia has repeatedly signaled that it would view any such strikes as a major escalation. The Kremlin leader warned on Sept. 12 that Moscow would be “at war” with the U.S. and NATO states if they approve them, claiming military infrastructure and personnel from the bloc would have to be involved in targeting and firing the missiles.

He reinforced the message by announcing a new version of the nuclear doctrine that considers a conventional attack on Russia by a nonnuclear nation that is supported by a nuclear power to be a joint attack on his country — a clear warning to the U.S. and other allies of Kyiv.

Putin also declared the revised document envisages possible nuclear weapons use in case of a massive air attack, opening the door to a potential nuclear response to any aerial assault — an ambiguity intended to deter the West.

Ukrainian leaders have repeatedly said they need permission to strike weapons depots, airfields and military bases far from the border to motivate Russia to seek peace. In response, U.S. defense officials have argued that the missiles are limited in number, and that Ukraine is already using its own long-range drones to hit targets farther into Russia.

That capability was evidenced by a Ukrainian drone strike in mid-September that hit a large Russian military depot in a town 500 kilometers from the border.

The U.S. allows Kyiv to use American-provided weapons in more limited, cross-border strikes to counter attacks by Russian forces.

Civilian deaths reported in Kherson as warring sides trade drone strikes

In a separate update, Bryansk Gov. Bogomaz claimed that more than a dozen Ukrainian drones were shot down over the region on Sunday. Separately, at least 16 drones were downed over other Russian regions, including the Tambov province some 450 kilometers north of the border, officials reported. There were no reports of casualties from any of the alleged attacks.

In Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson, Russian shelling killed three civilians on Sunday, local Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin claimed. Another Kherson resident died in a blaze sparked by shells hitting a high-rise, according to Ukraine’s Emergency Service.

Air raid sirens wailed for more than three hours in Kyiv overnight into Sunday, and city authorities later reported that “around 10” drones had been shot down. They said no one had been hurt. Ukraine’s air force on Sunday reported that it had shot down 41 drones launched by Russia across Ukrainian territory.
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