Ukraine war briefing: Russia plans to send North Korean troops into battle as early as Sunday, Zelenskiyy says

Ukraine president urged world leaders to pile ‘tangible pressure’ on Pyongyang as South Korea urges Russia to stop its ‘illegal cooperation’ with North Korea. What we know on day 976

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Russia was planning to send North Korean troops into battle against his country as early as Sunday, and urged world leaders to pile “tangible pressure” on Pyongyang.

South Korea urged Russia to stop its “illegal cooperation” with North Korea and voiced “grave concern” on Friday as Moscow moved to ratify its defence treaty with Pyongyang. Seoul has been watching the deployment of North Korea troops to Russia with growing unease.

Zelenskyy’s chief of staff said on Friday that a full withdrawal of Russian troops, and not just peace talks, were essential to ending the more than two-and-a-half-year-old war. Andriy Yermak addressed an international meeting devoted to implementing a peace plan, saying “Don’t expect this war to end when the warring sides begin to talk to each other … Don’t be deceived. This war will end when the last soldier of the occupying army returns home.”

G7 leaders have finalised details surrounding a $50bn loan to aid Kyiv, backed by profits from Russian sovereign assets frozen after its invasion of Ukraine, according to a statement released Friday. Leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies said they “have reached a consensus on how to deliver” the loans of approximately $50bn, with an aim to start disbursing funds by the end of this year.

A Russian missile attack hit residences and a medical facility in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Friday evening, killing three people and injuring at least nine, regional governor Serhiy Lysak said. Lysak, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said an eight-year-old girl and a teenage boy and were among the injured. News reports from the city said several strikes hit different areas there.

A Russian drone struck a high-rise residential building in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Friday, killing a teenage girl and injuring five other people, authorities said. Medics quickly rushed to the scene of the attack, which took place in Kyiv’s western Solomianskyi district, while rescue workers evacuated over 100 people.