The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has highlighted how his country and Russia had shared “blood, life and death” in the Ukraine war in a new year’s greeting to Vladimir Putin. Earlier this month, Pyongyang acknowledged that it had sent troops to clear mines in Russia’s Kursk region in August 2025. Several powerful explosions rocked Kyiv on Saturday as authorities warned that the Ukrainian capital was under threat of missile attack. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of using apartment blocks in Belarus to attack Ukrainian targets. Lewis and Eveleth said they were 90% certain that mobile Oreshnik launchers would be stationed at the former airbase near Krichev, 307km east of the Belarus capital, Minsk.

Source: The Guardian December 27, 2025 16:12 UTC