Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy gives his nightly video address to the nation, October 14, 2024

Monday’s Coverage: Zelenskiy — North Korea’s Personnel Supporting Russia’s Invasion

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1009 GMT:

The European Union has reportedly failed to persuade Gulf states to promise publicly to stop assisting Russia.

The first EU-Gulf summit will take place in Brussels on Wednesday. A draft joint statement condemns the missile strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, but does not name Russia as the attacker.

The EU proposed wording that all countries stop material assistance to Russia, with a condemnation of Iran for supplying Moscow with missiles and attack drones. The Gulf states insisted on general language calling on all parties to stop sending weapons to the parties to the conflict.

The Gulf states also proposed removal of a paragraph promising to improve the joint fight against circumvention of sanctions imposed on Russia.

The UAE has become a hub for Russia’s “shadow fleet” bypassing the global oil price ceiling of $60 per barrel on Moscow’s exports.
Starlink satellite communication terminals, including those purchased in Europe, are delivered via the UAE to the Russian military.

UPDATE 0957 GMT:

Ukraine air defenses downed 12 of 17 Iran-type attack drones launched by Russia overnight.

Russia also fired nine missiles, seven of which targeted the Mykolaiv region in southern Ukraine (see 0904 GMT).

UPDATE 0904 GMT:

The toll has risen to one killed and 23 wounded from this morning’s Russian missile attack on the city of Mykolaiv in southern Russia.

Russian forces struck the city with S-300 anti-aircraft missiles at around 2:30 a.m. An industrial facility, a restaurant complex, shops, residential buildings, and cars were damaged.

UPDATE 0531 GMT:

Russia Foreign Ministry Maria Zakhorova says that the US, rather than supporting the International Criminal Court arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin, should focus on the sex trafficking case of the rapper and music executive P. Diddy and the bullying of singer Justin Bieber when he was 13 years old.

The ICC issued the warrant in March 2023 against Putin and Russian “Children’s Rights” Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova over their role in the deportation of almost 20,000 Ukrainian juveniles to Russia or to Russian-occupied territory.

UPDATE 0428 GMT:

Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov met his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun during an official visit to Beijing on Monday, amid bilateral naval exercises in the Pacific Ocean.

Belousov highlighted bilateral cooperation in defensive capabilities and the supposed maintenance of global security and regional stability. Dong said Russia and China share a common desire to develop military cooperation and open new avenues for joint defense projects.

The Chinese Government has denied providing military assistance to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Western countries say Beijing, at least at the level of individual companies, is providing essential technological and military support.

UPDATE 0403 GMT:

Hundreds of Ukrainian schools, businesses, embassies, and media outlets received bomb threats via e-mail on Monday.

The threats appeared to be connected to an investigation by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) into the sabotage efforts of Russian security services in Ukraine.

Th sender, claimed to represent a “terrorist group”, listed targets such as the RFE/RL office, the Kyiv Independent, and the US Embassy in Kyiv. Authorities carried out searches and evacuated the premises. No evidence of an explosive device at the Kyiv Independent.

The e-mails declared three of RFE/RL’s investigative journalists should consider themselves responsible for the attack.

Last Thursday, RFE/RL’s investigative project, Schemes, published a report documenting how Russian security services recruit Ukrainians, including minors, to burn cars belonging to military personnel and staff at conscription centers. The RFE/RL journalists were among those threatened in the e-mails.

“We will not be intimidated and stand behind our reporters who will continue to bring news to Ukrainian audiences without fear or favor,” said RFE/RL President Stephen Capus.

Addressing a Bundestag committee on Monday, Germany’s domestic intelligence chief Thomas Haldenwang, listed suspected sabotage activities involving the Russians. They included a parcel bomb at Leipzig airport that detonated before it was loaded on to a cargo plane.

Germany’s intelligence heads said Russia has spied on critical infrastructure, arms activities, and military shipments supporting Ukraine. They added that the Russians are looking to recruit agents from the world of organised crime.

UPDATE 0352 GMT:

Russia’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers, circumventing international sanctions, is expanding.

The volume of Russian oil transported by the tankers has almost doubled in a year to 4.1 million barrels a day by June, assesses the Kyiv School of Economics.

The vessels are used to bypass a price cap of $60 per barrel introduced by the G7 countries, the European Union, and Australia in December 2022.

More than 630 tankers are involved in the shipments of Russian and sanctioned Iranian crude, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence.

The KSE estimates that Russia has invested at least $10 billion into the fleet during Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The analysts warned that the uninsured fleet, with some tankers more than 20 years old, could soon cause an environmental catastrophe in European waters.

“Large oil spills have so far been avoided but a major disaster is waiting to happen and cleanup costs would reach billions,” the KSE summarized.

UPDATE 0336 GMT:

The Ukrainian military has acknowledged a further Russian advance in the town of Toretsk in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

Anastasia Bobovnikova, spokesperson for the Luhansk Operational Tactical Group, said on national TV:

The situation is changing very quickly. Unfortunately, the enemy continues to assault our positions, and Toretsk has no remaining intact buildings.

The city now resembles an abandoned wasteland, with no shelters for civilians or military personnel, which regrettably allows the enemy to occupy new areas, though it is burned land.

The spokesperson said the Russians were taking heavy losses: “However, the Russian military leadership continues to lure recruits with promises of increased payouts to families of those killed, and many soldiers are enticed by these offers to sign contracts.”

UPDATE 0328 GMT:

Two women were killed by a Russian drone attack on the Kherson region in southern Ukraine on Monday.

A civilian vehicle with five people inside was targeted. The slain women were aged 72 and 56, and a 72-year-old man and a 63-year-old woman were injured.

A Russian strike on the neighboring Mykolaiv region killed one person and injured 11.

UPDATE, 0300 GMT:

A Moscow court has sentenced French national Dr. Laurent Vinatier, a humanitarian worker, to three years and three months in prison for an alleged violation of Russia’s “foreign agents” legislation.

Vinatier, who works for the Swiss Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, was arrested while visiting Russia in June.

Russian investigators claim he pleaded guilty to illegally obtaining information about the military.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Citing intelligence from Ukrainian services, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Vladimir Putin intends to involve North Korea directly in his 31 1/2-invasion of Ukraine.

Zelenskiy said in his nightly address to the nation that the “increasing alliance” between Moscow and Pyongyang includes “the actual involvement of North Korea in the war”.

Without naming other countries, Zelenskiy cited “Russia’s relations with some other countries, that, unfortunately, are investing in prolonging the war”.

On Sunday, Zelenskiy spoke of North Korean personnel supporting the invasion:

We see the growing alliance between Russia and regimes like that of North Korea. This is no longer just about the transfer of weapons. It is, in fact, about the transfer of people from North Korea to the occupying forces.

On Monday, Putin submitted a bill to the State Duma to ratify a treaty, signed in June alongside North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang, entailing strategic partnership.

The agreement stipulates that either country must provide military assistance to the other in the case of an attack.

Zelenskiy: “Standing Firm and Counter-Attacking” in Kursk

Zelenskiy also posted about a meeting with the military commander-in-chief, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, about the battlefield.

The President noted “particularly fierce battles” near Pokrovsk and Kurakhove in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine as a year-long Russian offensive tries to advance. He continued:

For five days now, the Russians have been trying to break through our defense in the Kursk region.

Our guys are standing firm and counterattacking.