Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has admitted that his country’s forces are unable to dislodge Russian troops out of the land they occupy in Crimea and the east of the country.
The Ukrainian president said diplomacy was the only remaining option to get Moscow to withdraw its army – though he vowed Kyiv would never recognize Russian rule.
“We cannot give up our territories. The Ukrainian constitution forbids us from doing so. De facto, these territories are now controlled by the Russians. We do not have the strength to recover them,” he said in an interview with the French newspaper Le Parisien.
“We can only count on diplomatic pressure from the international community to force Putin to sit down at the negotiating table.”
Mr Zelensky made similar remarks in an interview with Sky News’s chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay last month, in which he suggested a ceasefire deal could be struck if Ukrainian territory he controls could be taken “under the NATO umbrella” – allowing him to negotiate the return of the rest, later, “in a diplomatic way”.
Mr Zelensky said NATO membership would have to be offered to unoccupied parts of the country in order to end the “hot phase of the war,” as long as the NATO invitation itself recognizes Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders.
Ukraine strikes army oil refinery, igniting blaze
The Ukrainian military says it struck the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery in Russia’s Rostov region, which was being used to supply the Russian army.
Russian officials said Ukraine struck Russian territory with at least 13 missiles and 84 drones, triggering a fire at the refinery.
Defenses shot down 84 drones over Russian regions, including 36 over the Rostov region, according to the defense ministry.
Rostov acting governor Yuri Slyusar said Ukraine had struck the region with at least 13 missiles and dozens of drones, triggering a fire at the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery, which has repeatedly been targeted by Ukraine.
At least one person was injured during the attack, Slyusar said.
Kyiv struck a Russian military airfield earlier this month with US-made ATACMS missiles prompting a major Russian attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Kim Jong Un ‘overseeing training’ after inexperienced North Korean troops killed in Russia
At least 100 North Korean troops have been killed and another 1,000 injured in combat against Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region, a South Korean politician has said.
Member of parliament Lee Seong-kweun said a lack of experience in drone warfare and unfamiliarity with open terrain was responsible for the heavy losses, citing the country’s spy agency.
He was speaking after a closed-door briefing by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) to parliament.
“There was a report that there have been at least 100 deaths and the injured are approaching 1,000,” he said.
There are indications that the North is preparing for additional deployment, Lee said, including intelligence of the country’s leader Kim Jong Un overseeing training.
The report echoed comments by US and Ukrainian officials that North Korean losses are heavy and that Russia was using them in large numbers in assaults in Kursk, a Russian region where Ukraine launched a cross-border incursion in August.
More than 10,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to help Russia in the war, said US and South Korean officials.
Pyongyang has also shipped more than 10,000 containers of artillery rounds, anti-tank rockets, mechanized howitzers and rocket launchers.
Vladimir Putin visited Pyongyang in June and signed a “comprehensive strategic partnership” treaty with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that included a mutual defense pact.
Russia claims the capture of two new settlements
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed the capture of two new settlements – Stari Terny and Trudove – in the Donetsk region of east Ukraine. Both are located near the industrial town of Kurakhove, which Russia appears close to capturing.
Compiled by Ana Dumbadze
