The Seoul Ministry of Defense said North Korea launched two cruise missiles on Wednesday, ending a month-long hiatus in Pyongyang’s record-breaking series of weapons tests this year.
“We discovered this morning that North Korea launched two cruise missiles towards the West Sea off the coast of Oncheon, South Pyongan Province,” a ministry spokesman told AFP. “US and South Korean military officials are looking into detailed specifications such as range.”
North Korea has not tested a cruise missile, which is not prohibited by UN sanctions against the country, since January, the Yonhap news agency reported. Pyongyang last tested weapons on July 10, when several rocket launchers were launched.
Since January, North Korea has conducted a series of sanctions-repressive tests, including the launch of a full-range ICBM for the first time since 2017. Officials in Washington and Seoul also warned that the isolated regime was preparing to carry out what would be its seventh nuclear test.
Earlier this week, the South Korean and US military began preliminary drills ahead of their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) joint exercise. The drills infuriate Pyongyang, which sees them as a rehearsal for an invasion.
South Korea says it will not pursue nuclear deterrence
South Korea’s president said today that his government has no plans to interfere with nuclear deterrence after North Korea’s nuclear capabilities increase. Yoon Suk-yeol urged Pyongyang to resume negotiations and diplomacy aimed at trading the stages of North Korea’s denuclearization for economic benefits.
Yoon’s office said South Korea’s director of national security, Kim Seong-han, discussed the launch with other officials before Yoon spoke to reporters at a press conference and reaffirmed South Korea’s military readiness.
Yoon told reporters that South Korea does not want violent political change in North Korea and called for a return to negotiations for a lasting peace.
Yun’s proposal, namely large-scale assistance in the fields of food, medicine and health care, as well as in the modernization of the energy industry and port infrastructure, is reminiscent of previous proposals by South Korea that were rejected by North Korea, namely, accelerating the development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, which North Korean leader Kim Jong-un regarded as the main guarantee of his survival.
Nevertheless, Yoon expressed hope for a “meaningful dialogue” with North Korea about his plan and emphasized that Seoul is ready to provide appropriate economic benefits at every stage of the denuclearization process if North Korea adopts a real roadmap to abandon its weapons program.
Putin has repeatedly consulted with Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu about the invasion, Europa Press told Ukraine’s chief intelligence director Vadim Skibitsky.
According to Skibitsky, it was the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), which is responsible for counterintelligence and espionage work, that put pressure on Gerasimov and other military agencies to agree to launch an offensive. .
However, according to the Ukrainian intelligence services, the FSB considered that by the end of February sufficient preparations had already been made to guarantee the success of the Russian Armed Forces in a lightning invasion.
However, according to Kyiv, the Russian General Staff provided the Russian troops with supplies and ammunition for only three days, hoping that the offensive would be swift and immediately successful.
The head of Ukrainian intelligence also emphasized the cooperation of local residents, who always provided the Ukrainian authorities with up-to-date information about the Russian army, such as the number of soldiers or the exact location of troops.
The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine caused at least 6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than 7.8 million refugees to European countries, which is why the UN classifies this migration crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945). gg.). ).
At the moment, 17.7 million Ukrainians are in need of humanitarian assistance, and 9.3 million are in need of food aid and housing.
The UN has presented as confirmed 6,755 civilian deaths and 10,607 wounded since the beginning of the war, stressing that these figures are much lower than the real ones.
A Stockholm court on Monday sentenced a former Swedish intelligence officer to life in prison for spying for Russia, and his brother to at least 12 years in prison. In what is considered one of the most serious cases in Swedish counterintelligence history, much of the trial took place behind closed doors in the name of national security.
According to the prosecution, it was Russian military intelligence, the GRU, who took advantage of the information provided by the two brothers between 2011 and their arrest at the end of 2021.
Peyman Kia, 42, has held many senior positions in the Swedish security apparatus, including the army and his country’s intelligence services (Säpo). His younger brother, Payam, 35, is accused of “participating in the planning” of the plot and of “managing contacts with Russia and the GRU, including passing on information and receiving financial rewards.”
Both men deny the charges, and their lawyers have demanded an acquittal on charges of “aggravated espionage,” according to the Swedish news agency TT.
The trial coincides with another case of alleged Russian espionage, with the arrest of the Russian-born couple in late November in a suburb of Stockholm by a police team arriving at dawn in a Blackhawk helicopter.
Research website Bellingcat identified them as Sergei Skvortsov and Elena Kulkova. The couple allegedly acted as sleeper agents for Moscow, having moved to Sweden in the late 1990s.
According to Swedish press reports, the couple ran companies specializing in the import and export of electronic components and industrial technology.
The man was again detained at the end of November for “illegal intelligence activities.” His partner, suspected of being an accomplice, has been released but remains under investigation.
According to Swedish authorities, the arrests are not related to the trial of the Kia brothers.
“They can strengthen their positions. We understand that this can happen. At the same time, we do not rule out that they will announce a general mobilization,” Danilov said in an interview with the Ukrainska Pravda online publication.
Danilov believed that this mobilization would also be convened “to exterminate as many as possible” of Russian citizens, so that “they would no longer have any problems on their territory.”
In this sense, Danilov also reminded that Russia has not given up on securing control over Kyiv or the idea of the complete “destruction” of Ukraine. “We have to be ready for anything,” he said.
“I want everyone to understand that [os russos] they have not given up on the idea of destroying our nation. If they don’t have Kyiv in their hands, they won’t have anything in their hands, we must understand this,” continued Danilov, who also did not rule out that a new Russian offensive would come from “Belarus and other territories.” .
As such, Danilov praised the decision of many of its residents who chose to stay in the Ukrainian capital when the war broke out in order to defend the city.
“They expected that there would be panic, that people would run, that there would be nothing to protect Kyiv,” he added, referring to President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine caused at least 6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than 7.8 million refugees to European countries, which is why the UN classifies this migration crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945). gg.). ).
At the moment, 17.7 million Ukrainians are in need of humanitarian assistance, and 9.3 million are in need of food aid and housing.
The Russian invasion, justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security, was condemned by the international community at large, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing political and economic sanctions on Russia.
The UN has presented as confirmed 6,755 civilian deaths and 10,607 wounded since the beginning of the war, stressing that these figures are much lower than the real ones.
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