Ukraine Russia war latest: Putin’s submarine damaged in Crimea ‘ghost’ speed boat attack

The UK has urged North Korea to stick by its commitment not to sell arms to Russia.

A spokesperson for Rishi Sunak urged Kim Jong-Un to end negotiations with Vladimir Putin.

The comments come after Putin and Kim met earlier to discuss weapons and “economic” cooperation.

“We urge the DPRK to cease its arms negotiations with Russia and to abide by public commitments Pyongyang has made not to sell arms to Russia,” the No 10 spokesperson said.

“This visit serves to highlight Russia’s isolation on the global stage, and as the world unites against Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and he has been forced to turn to regimes such as North Korea.”

More than 100 port infrastructure facilities have been damaged in Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports since July 18, deputy prime minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Wednesday.

He also said Ukrainian grain exports had fallen by almost 3 million tons per month since July 18 – one day after Russia quit the UN-backed Black Sea grain export deal.

“Since July 18, due to Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports, 105 port infrastructure facilities have been damaged and partially destroyed.

“As a result of strikes on the ports of the Danube cluster and the blocking of seaports, grain exports to Asia, Africa and Europe were reduced by almost 3 million tons per month,’ Kubrakov wrote on Facebook.

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday that his forces were maintaining “active defence” in the face of Ukraine’s counteroffensive, and that Moscow had no choice but to win.

Shoigu said the autumn campaign was now under way and acknowledged in comments to a reporter for Rossiya-1 state TV that the situation on the front was difficult in places.

“The forces are maintaining active defence on the necessary, essential fronts. In some places it’s harder, in others simpler,” he said.

“But I can say that the lads and the commander are performing confidently, and reliably defending what we need to defend at the moment – those places, obviously, where the Ukrainian armed forces are trying to break through.”

The main task was to knock out enemy weaponry, he said.

Ending a global guessing game on when and where they would meet, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin convened at a rocket launch facility in Siberia on Wednesday in their first summit in four years.

The talks between the two isolated, nuclear-armed leaders were expected to focus on expanding military cooperation amid their intensifying confrontations with the West.

Russia’s main shipyard in Crimea has been struck in a major attack involving 10 cruise missiles, according to Russian officials, with videos overnight appearing to show large explosions at a port in Sevastopol.

It comes as Ukraine said it shot down 32 drones out of 44 fired by Russia overnight, with Ukrainian port infrastructure in Odesa described as being the main target.

The European Union’s chief executive said Wednesday that her services will launch a major series of policy reviews to ensure that the 27-nation bloc can still function properly as it invites in new members in coming years.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday the geopolitical climate had changed completely since the United Nations imposed sanctions on North Korea, and he accused the West of breaking pledges on humanitarian support for Pyongyang.

Lavrov was speaking to a Russian TV reporter as President Vladimir Putin hosted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at a summit in Russia’s far east. Since 2006 North Korea has been under UN sanctions, which Russia supported, over its banned nuclear weapons and missile programmes.

“Sanctions against North Korea were adopted in a completely different geopolitical situation when there were problems establishing dialogue (with Pyongyang), when there were quite serious debates in the Security Council,” Lavrov told Russian TV reporter Pavel Zarubin.

He said the reason that Russia and China had blocked a further U.S.-drafted sanctions resolution against North Korea last year was that the West had given a false promise at the time of the original sanctions on humanitarian aid for the country.

“That was another lie. We, the Chinese and the North Koreans were deceived,” Lavrov said.

Elements of a possible drone were identified on Romanian territory, the Romanian defence ministry said on Wednesday.

A Russian drone attack early on Wednesday damaged port infrastructure in the Izmail district of southern Ukraine, just across the border from Romania.

Elements of a possible drone were identified on Romanian territory, the Romanian defence ministry said on Wednesday.

A Russian drone attack early on Wednesday damaged port infrastructure in the Izmail district of southern Ukraine, just across the border from Romania.

Over the weekend fragments of a drone similar to those used by the Russian military were found on Romanian soil, the defence ministry said, and President Klaus Iohannis said this indicated an unacceptable breach of Romania’s air space had occurred.

In a statement, Iohannis said he had informed NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg about the pieces of drone – the second to crash in Romanian territory this week – and that Stoltenberg reiterated the alliance’s complete solidarity with Romania.

Ukraine’s general staff has said its forces had seen “partial success” on the southern front around the village of Robotyne.

A general said yesterday that the country’s forces had advanced up to 500 metres south and southeast of the settlement, although a statement did not provide any further details.

Meanwhile, a pro-Russian military blogger recently claimed Kyiv was attempting to push south towards Novoprokopivka and west, in the direction of Kopani.

Boris Johnson posed for a photo at a drone factory while on a recent visit to Ukraine.

The former UK prime minister visited Ukraine earlier this week, where he was given an honorary doctorate by the city’s Ivan Franko National University for his support of Ukraine during Russia’s illegal invasion.

“Fascinating to see the cutting edge military drone technology being developed in Ukraine,” he said in a post on X.

“Innovations like this are key to countering Russia’s illegal invasion.”