Russia hit Ukraine with missiles supplied by North Korea for the first time during its invasion, a senior Kyiv official said, corroborating an earlier assertion by the White House. Grant Shapps, the British secretary of state for defence, said that “we’ll make sure North Korea pays a high price for supporting Russia”.
President Joe Biden’s top budget official warned of the rapidly diminishing time that lawmakers have to replenish US aid for Ukraine, as the fate of that money to Kyiv remains tied up in congressional negotiations over immigration where a deal has so far been out of reach. Shalanda Young said that while the Pentagon had some limited authority to help Kyiv, “that is not going to get big tranches of equipment into Ukraine”.
Micheál Martin, Ireland’s foreign minister, said the international community must “remain firm in its resolve to support” Ukraine.
Russian air defence units downed missiles and drones in a series of night-time attacks over the Crimea peninsula and the western part of the Black Sea, Russia’s defence ministry said early on Saturday. There was no report on the incident from the Ukrainian military, which does not consistently disclose its actions in Crimea.
The government of Nepal has banned its citizens from travelling to Russia or Ukraine for employment after 10 young men were killed and dozens more reported missing while fighting, predominately in the Russian military. More than 200 Nepali soldiers are believed to have enlisted in the Russian army since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Nepal’s foreign ministry has said.
A British defence intelligence update on Ukraine noted that “over the last week, ground combat has continued to be characterised by either a static frontline or very gradual, local Russian advances in key sectors”.
Russian officials in the southern border city of Belgorod offered to evacuate residents, after waves of fatal Ukrainian attacks. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov’s offer came a day after overnight shelling wounded at least two people and knocked out glass from high-rise buildings.
Ukraine released images of what it said was a Russian Kinzhal ballistic missile, which it claimed earlier in the week to have downed using the US Patriot anti-aircraft system. The Guardian was not able to verify the claim.
