Russian drones target Kyiv

Officials successful Ukraine’s superior said Wednesday a Russian drone onslaught near astatine slightest 9 radical injured.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said connected Telegram an 11-year-old miss was among those wounded erstwhile debris from a downed drone deed an flat building.

Serhii Popko, caput of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said aerial defenses destroyed Russian drones that attacked the metropolis from aggregate directions.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday it destroyed 23 Ukrainian drones deployed successful overnight attacks.

The intercepts took spot implicit the Rostov, Kursk, Smolensk, Oryol, Bryansk and Belgorod regions, the ministry said.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said connected Telegram determination was harm to electrical lines, portion officials successful Kursk reported a occurrence astatine an administrative building.

North Korea

The Pentagon said Tuesday a “small number” of North Korean troops person deployed to Russia’s Kursk region, wherever they are apt to beryllium utilized successful combat against Ukrainian troops.

“[There are] indications that there's already a tiny fig that are really successful the Kursk Oblast, with a mates 1000 much that are either astir determination oregon owed to get imminently,” Pentagon property caput Major General Pat Ryder told reporters.

“We stay acrophobic that Russia intends to usage these soldiers successful combat oregon to enactment combat operations against Ukrainian forces successful Kursk,” helium added.

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Defense said that North Korea has sent astir 10,000 troops to bid successful Russia, much than tripling the erstwhile estimate, and warned that those forces would apt augment Russian forces adjacent Ukraine implicit the adjacent respective weeks.

The Pentagon has “no information” to corroborate reports that North Korean troops are besides wrong Ukraine, according to Ryder.

Asked by VOA whether Ukraine should onslaught backmost against North Korean forces, President Joe Biden replied, “If they transverse into Ukraine, yes.”

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Tuesday that subject practice betwixt North Korea and Russia “poses a important information menace to the planetary community.”

The comments astatine a Cabinet gathering successful Seoul followed Yoon saying Monday that the deployment of North Korean troops to the battlefield successful Ukraine could hap “more rapidly than anticipated,” according to South Korean quality assessments.

NATO connected Monday had confirmed that 3,000 North Korean troops had been sent to Russia with immoderate deployed to Russia’s Kursk region. Ukrainian troops invaded the borderline portion successful a astonishment onslaught successful August and inactive clasp territory there.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the deployment of North Korean troops was a motion of "growing desperation" connected the portion of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Rutte added that much than 600,000 Russian forces person been killed oregon wounded since the February 2022 penetration of Ukraine.

The Pentagon did not supply further details connected the benignant of troops oregon instrumentality that North Korea had sent with them. When pressed by VOA Monday connected what capabilities these troops could bring, lawman Pentagon property caput Sabrina Singh said, “It’s further bodies connected the battlefield."

"If we spot DPRK troops moving successful and towards the beforehand lines, they are co-belligerents successful the war,” she warned.

Russia and North Korea person boosted their governmental and subject confederation since Moscow’s amerciable penetration of Ukraine. The Kremlin initially dismissed reports astir a North Korean unit deployment arsenic "fake news,” but Putin past week did not contradict that North Korean troops were presently successful Russia, adding that it was up to Moscow to determine however to deploy them arsenic portion of a communal defence information pact that helium signed with North Korean person Kim Jong Un successful June.

At likelihood with Putin’s comments, a North Korean typical to the United Nations successful New York past week characterized the reports of Pyongyang’s deployment of troops successful Russia arsenic "groundless rumors."

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin volition big his South Korean counterpart, Kim Yong-Hyun, connected Wednesday astatine the Pentagon, wherever the 2 are expected to sermon the North Korean troops who are present successful Russia.

Some accusation for this communicative came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.