North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un with troops during an inspection at a military training base at an undisclosed location in North Korea, October 2, 2024

Saturday’s Coverage: Russia Hits Dnipro Hospital, Kills 4 and Injures 20

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1311 GMT:

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General has launched a war crimes investigation after Russian troops reportedly killed two women in Selydove near the frontline in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

The Prosecutor General’s office said the bodies were found in a residential area that had seen little damage from active combat.

The prosecutors are also examining video of Russian forces firing with automatic weapons on a civilian car carrying two people, one of whom was wounded.

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UPDATE 1137 GMT:

Five civilians have been killed and 19 injured by Russian attacks over the past day.

In the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, two people were slain and nine injured. In the neighboring Kharkiv region, an 84-year-old man was killed and a 65-year-old civilian injured.

In the Kherson region, two people were killed and eight injured by shelling of the village of Stanislav.

Air defenses downed 41 of 80 Iran-type drones launched by Russia overnight. Another 32 were lost because of electronic counter-measures, and one flew toward Belarus.

UPDATE 1111 GMT:

Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have expressed serious doubts about the integrity of Georgia’s elections (see 0539 GMT).

The OSCE supported the claims of Georgia’s opposition that the election was marred by numerous violations. Voters were intimidated and coerced. Others were suppressed, and polls were not opened abroad. Voting was delayed in 40% of polling stations because of new technology.

Citing more than 400 documented complaints, the monitors noted the advantage of the ruling Georgian Dream Party — which claimed that it had 54.3% of the vote — in campaign financing.The OSCE summarized that the violations and indadequacies led to some sectors of the population being unable to make a free choice.

UPDATE 0539 GMT:

Georgia’s ruling pro-Russian party, Georgian Dream, has won 54.3% of the vote in Saturday’s Parliamentary election, according to the country’s Central Electoral Commission.

Georgian opposition parties are refused to recognize the result. They say election monitors reported violations across the country, including ballot stuffing and voter intimidation.

“We are outraged by what the central (election) commission dared to write. The results do not reflect the will of the Georgian people,” said Anna Dolidze, leader of the opposition For the People party. “We will fight for every vote and use all legal means to protect the democratic and European choice of the Georgian people.”

Exit polls commissioned by pro-opposition outlets Formula and Mtavari Arkhi indiciated opposition parties would hold enough seats to form the majority The government-leaning Imedi TV channel projected Georgian Dream would win a majority with 56% of the vote.

The European Union had cautioned that the election will shape Georgia’s prospects for joining the 27-nation bloc. Polls indicate that most Georgians support EU membership, but accession talks stalled after Georgian Dream passed a law in June restricting freedom of speech.

UPDATE 0529 GMT:

The death toll has risen to five, including a child from Russia’s missile strikes on residential areas and a hospital in Dnipro city late Friday.

On Saturday, a Russian glide bomb killed one person and injured three in Kostiantynivka, near the frontline in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. Two people were slain by shelling of the Kherson region in the south. And a teenager in Kyiv was killed during hours of drone strikes.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has highlighted Russia’s turn to North Korean troops as Vladimir Putin tries to sustain his 32-month invasion.

Ukrainian, South Korean, and US intelligence agencies report that thousands of North Korean personnel are in Russia. Some have been deployed to the Kursk region in western Russia, part of which is controlled by Ukraine after an August 6 cross-border incursion, whlie others are being trained in the east.

Zelenskiy has said that North Korean units will soon be on the frontline in Ukraine. In his nightly address to the nation, he explained:

Each day of this war only proves one fact: Moscow is intent on continuing its aggression. This is why they’re attempting to increase their defense production by bypassing sanctions. It’s why they’re increasingly involving North Korea — and in a matter of days, North Korean soldiers may join the battlefield against Ukraine. Ukraine could soon be forced to fight North Korean troops in Europe.

He chided allies, “These are the conditions we face, where a lack of stronger decisions from our partners to support Ukraine only encourages Putin to invest further in terror.”

The world can stop this war from unfolding. Words and abstractions are not enough. Concrete steps are needed. We have outlined all such steps in the Victory Plan — the actions that will prevent the aggressors from becoming even more emboldened.

See also EA-Times Radio Special: Ukraine, NATO, and A “German Parallel” to End Russia’s Invasion?