World
Ukraine’s Zelenskiy to present plan to Biden to end war with Russia
Zelenskiy said he hoped to go to the United States in September to attend the U.N. General Assembly in New York and that he was preparing to meet Biden.
Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday that the war with Russia would eventually end in dialogue, but that Kyiv had to be in a strong position and that he would present a plan to U.S. President Joe Biden and his two potential successors, Reuters reported.
The Ukrainian leader, addressing a news conference, said Kyiv's three-week-old incursion into Russia's Kursk region was part of that plan, but that it also comprised other steps on the economic and diplomatic fronts.
"The main point of this plan is to force Russia to end the war. And I want that very much - (that it would be) fair for Ukraine," he told reporters in Kyiv of the war launched by Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
He did not elaborate further on the next steps, but said he would also discuss the plan with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and probably also with Republican Donald Trump, the two nominees for the U.S. presidential election.
Zelenskiy said he hoped to go to the United States in September to attend the U.N. General Assembly in New York and that he was preparing to meet Biden.
His remarks indicated that he sees the main potential forum for talks as a follow-up international summit on peace, at which Ukraine has said it wants Russia to have representatives, read the report.
The first summit to advance Kyiv's vision of peace, held in Switzerland in June, pointedly excluded Russia, while attracting scores of delegations, but not from China, the world's second largest economy, despite Kyiv's push to win over the global south.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Aug. 19 that talks were out of the question after Ukraine launched a major cross-border incursion into Russia's Kursk region on Aug. 6.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in Kyiv last week, spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday and told him he supported an early and peaceful resolution to the Ukraine conflict, Reuters reported.
Zelenskiy has been adamant that Russia wants to dictate terms to Ukraine in any settlement of the war, something that Kyiv sees as unacceptable.
Putin has said any deal needs to start with Ukraine's acceptance of "realities on the ground", that would leave Russia with possession of substantial chunks of four Ukrainian regions as well as Crimea. Now Ukraine says it controls more than 1,200 square km (463 sq miles) of Russia's Kursk region.
"There can be no compromises with Putin, dialogue today is in principle empty and meaningless because he does not want to end the war diplomatically," Zelenskiy said at the news conference.
He said the offensive into the Kursk region had reduced the number of governments around the world calling for Ukraine to make compromises with Russia to end the war and give up swathes of territory.
On the battlefield, Zelenskiy mocked Putin, who he said was prioritising the capture of Ukrainian land over the defence of Russia's own territory.
He pointed to Kursk region where Ukraine has claimed the capture of 100 settlements, while Russian forces continue to inch forward in the eastern Donetsk region.
The Ukrainian leader also said that Kyiv was continuing to make progress on its domestic weapons production and that it had conducted its first test of a domestically-produced ballistic missile.
World
Nineteen reported injured in central Israel after projectile launch
Nineteen people in central Israel's Sharon region were injured, the Israeli police said, after the military reported the launch of three projectiles from Lebanon into Israeli territory early on Saturday.
The national ambulance service previously reported that seven people in the central Israeli town of Tira were injured, Reuters reported.
The Israeli military said that sirens sounded in several areas of central Israel after the projectile launch. Some projectiles had been intercepted, it said.
"A fallen projectile was most likely identified in the area," the army added, noting that details were under investigation.
The national ambulance service and local media said the injuries in Tira ranged from mild to moderate, while two other people suffered stress symptoms.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq said later in a statement it had launched drones at a "vital target" in northern Israel. It was not immediately clear if the group's action was related to the injuries.
Fighting in Lebanon has escalated dramatically in recent weeks between Israeli forces and the Lebanese Hezbollah group.
World
Russia fires missiles to simulate ‘massive’ response to a nuclear attack
Defence Minister Andrei Belousov told Putin that the purpose of the drill was to practice delivering “a massive nuclear strike by strategic offensive forces in response to a nuclear strike by the enemy”
Russia test-fired missiles over distances of thousands of miles on Tuesday to simulate a "massive" nuclear response to an enemy first strike, Reuters reported.
"Given the growing geopolitical tensions and the emergence of new external threats and risks, it is important to have modern and constantly ready-to-use strategic forces," President Vladimir Putin said as he announced the exercise.
It took place at a critical moment in the Russia-Ukraine war, after weeks of Russian signals to the West that Moscow will respond if the United States and its allies allow Kyiv to fire longer-range missiles deep into Russia.
On Monday NATO said that North Korea has sent troops to western Russia, something Moscow has not denied.
In televised comments, Defence Minister Andrei Belousov told Putin that the purpose of the drill was to practice delivering "a massive nuclear strike by strategic offensive forces in response to a nuclear strike by the enemy".
The exercise involved Russia's full nuclear "triad" of ground-, sea- and air-launched missiles.
A Yars intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from Plesetsk cosmodrome in northwest Russia to Kamchatka, a peninsula in the far east.
Sineva and Bulava ballistic missiles were fired from submarines, and cruise missiles were launched from strategic bomber planes, the defence ministry said.
The 2-1/2-year-old war is entering what Russian officials say is its most dangerous phase as the West considers how to shore up Ukraine while Russian forces advance in the east of the country.
Putin said using nuclear weapons would be an "extremely exceptional measure".
"I stress that we are not going to get involved in a new arms race, but we will maintain nuclear forces at the level of necessary sufficiency," he said.
He added that Russia was moving to new "stationary and mobile-based missile systems" which have a reduced launch preparation time and could overcome missile defence systems.
The drill follows an Oct. 18 exercise in the Tver region, northwest of Moscow, involving field movements by a unit equipped with Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles, capable of striking U.S. cities, Reuters reported.
Nuclear Signals
Since the start of the war, Putin has sent a series of pointed signals to the West, including by changing Russia's position on major nuclear treaties and announcing the deployment of tactical nuclear missiles to neighbouring Belarus.
Ukraine has accused him of nuclear blackmail. NATO says it will not be intimidated by Russian threats.
Last month the Kremlin leader approved changes to the official nuclear doctrine, extending the list of scenarios under which Moscow would consider using such weapons.
Under the changes, Russia would consider any assault on it supported by a nuclear power to be a joint attack - a warning to the United States not to help Ukraine strike deep into Russia with conventional weapons.
Putin has said that Russia does not need to resort to the use of nuclear weapons in order to achieve victory in Ukraine.
Russia is the world's largest nuclear power. Together, Russia and the U.S. control 88% of the world's nuclear warheads.
U.S. officials say they have seen no change to Russia's nuclear deployment posture during the war.
But the United States in 2022 was so concerned about the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons by Russia that it warned Putin over the consequences of using such weapons, according to Central Intelligence Agency Director Bill Burns.
World
North Korea’s foreign minister leaves for Russia amid troop dispatch
U.S. President Joe Biden called the situation “very dangerous”.
North Korea's foreign minister, Choe Son Hui, is on her way to Moscow, state media KCNA and Russian officials said on Tuesday, for her second trip to Russia in six weeks amid rising concerns about Pyongyang's involvement in Moscow's war in Ukraine, Reuters reported.
KCNA said a delegation led by Choe left on Monday for an official visit to Russia, without elaborating.
Russia's ambassador to Pyongyang, Alexander Matsegora, saw off Choe at the airport, the Russian embassy said in a statement posted on the embassy's Vkontakte social media page.
"The visit of the head of the DPRK Foreign Ministry to the Russian Federation is taking place within the framework of a strategic dialogue - following an agreement to enhance ties reached by the leaders of our countries during the June 2024 summit," the statement said.
DPRK stands for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
During a televised cabinet meeting, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said "illegal" military cooperation between Russia and North Korea posed a serious threat to the international community, read the report.
"I want everyone to be on alert about risk management," Yoon told the meeting.
Choe's visit comes as NATO joined Seoul, Washington and Kyiv in confirming Pyongyang's dispatch of troops to Russia, saying that North Korean military units had been deployed to Russia's Kursk region on the border with Ukraine.
The Pentagon said on Monday that Washington would not impose new limits on Kyiv's use of American weapons if North Korea entered Moscow's war against Kyiv. It also said that North Korea had sent 10,000 troops to eastern Russia for training, up from its estimate of 3,000 on Wednesday.
U.S. President Joe Biden called the situation "very dangerous".
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, after a meeting on Monday with a South Korean delegation, said the deepening military ties between Moscow and Pyongyang posed a threat to both Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic security, Reuters reported.
South Korea's president, in a phone call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, said the deployment of North Korean troops to the front lines of the war in Ukraine may come sooner than expected.
Since the meeting of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Vladimir Putin in Russia's Far East last year, North Korea and Russia have upgraded their military ties. They met again in June this year to sign a comprehensive strategic partnership that includes a mutual defence pact.
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