Ukraine war briefing: UN chief ‘very concerned’ about reports of North Korean troops in Russia

US intelligence has said North Korean forces have made their way to Russia’s Kursk border region; Pro-Eu president wins Moldovan vote. What we know on day 985

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has said he is “very concerned” about reports that North Korean troops have been sent to Russia, and at their possible deployment to the conflict zone of Ukraine. “The Secretary-General is very concerned about reports of troops from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea being sent to the Russian Federation,” said Stephane Dujarric, the UN chief’s spokesperson, on Sunday. US intelligence has said North Korean forces have made their way to Russia’s Kursk border region, with Washington and Seoul urging Pyongyang to withdraw its troops. North Korea and Russia have not denied the troop deployment reports.

Russian forces attacked Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, on Sunday, injuring at least five people, Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
Syniehubov, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said a Russian guided bomb hit a supermarket in Kharkiv’s Shevchenkivskyi district, near the city centre. Four people were injured. Mayor Ihor Terekhov said the supermarket was located next to residences. An earlier strike had hit a forested area of the city, he said.

Moldova’s pro-western President Maia Sandu has won a second term in office in a pivotal presidential runoff against a Russia-friendly opponent, in a race that was overshadowed by claims of Russian interference, voter fraud, and intimidation in the European Union candidate country.

Europe will need to rethink its support of Ukraine if Donald Trump is elected president of the United States, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán said on Sunday, as the continent “will not be able to bear the burdens of the war alone”.
Orban opposes military aid to Ukraine and has made clear he thinks Trump shares his views and would negotiate a peace settlement for Ukraine. He backs former president Trump, the Republic candidate, to beat Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in Tuesday’s US election.

The Guardian’s Luke Harding has been in Kupiansk, where Russian combat units are now less than two miles away. A little to the south, troops have already reached the Oskil River, turning Ukrainian-controlled territory on the left bank into two separate and shrinking bulges. Bridges across the river are relentlessly bombed. Moscow’s apparent plan is to flatten Kupiansk and then reoccupy it.

A second Taiwanese volunteer fighting alongside Ukrainian soldiers against Russia has been killed, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said on Sunday. The man was a member of Ukraine’s military legion of foreign fighters, the foreign ministry said in a statement, expressing condolences to his family, who did not want him publicly identified. The ministry said they received reports of the man’s death on Saturday and Taiwan’s representative office in Poland verified it with Ukraine’s International Legion. No other details were released.