Here is the situation on Saturday, October 19, 2024.
Fighting
- South Korea has warned of a “grave security threat” as its spy agency said 1,500 North Korean troops have arrived to fight with Russia in Ukraine.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he believes 10,000 North Korean soldiers could eventually join the war.
- Ukrainian soldiers are locked in a bitter battle for the town of Toretsk in the eastern Donetsk region, which Russian troops entered last Friday.
- An official in the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, a key target in Russia’s advance westwards, has urged residents to evacuate as essential services like heating will be cut.
- President Zelenskyy said that Ukraine’s allies are pushing for the country to lower its military draft age from 25, but that he sees no reason to do so.
Diplomacy
- Kyiv has said Russia returned the bodies of 501 servicemen killed in fighting while Russia and Ukraine each swapped 95 prisoners of war in an agreement mediated by the United Arab Emirates.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin has said a joint proposal tabled in May by China and Brazil for ending the war in Ukraine was “balanced” and could yield results.
- Zelenskyy has dismissed the proposal – which would resume direct dialogue but would not require Russia to pull back from Ukraine – adding that he expects Putin to table his own peace proposal at the upcoming BRICS summit.
- US President Joe Biden has said there is no consensus on giving Ukraine long-range weapons to conduct deeper strikes into Russia but called on NATO to “sustain our support” during a visit to Berlin.
Finances
- The International Monetary Fund’s board has completed a review of a fund arrangement for Ukraine that will enable the disbursement of $1.1bn to Kyiv.
- The US is willing to provide up to $20bn to Ukraine as part of a G7 loan that will be repaid with profits generated by frozen Russian assets, three anonymous sources have told The Financial Times.
