North Korea's state security minister to attend high-level meeting in Russia, KCNA says
SEOUL, May 27 (Reuters) - North Korea's minister of state security, Ri Chang Dae, left Pyongyang on Monday to attend a meeting of senior security officials in Russia, the North's KCNA state news agency reported on Tuesday.
Russian media have reported that the top security aide to President Vladimir Putin, Sergei Shoigu, will take part in the meeting to be attended by security officials from countries including North Korea, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
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Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Ukraine destroys Russian helicopters in latest airfield drone strikes
Ukraine destroyed three Russian attack helicopters in its latest blow to Moscow's air power, Kyiv has claimed. Saturday's pre-dawn strike on the Kirovske base, in occupied Crimea, targeted Russian aircraft, air defence systems and storage facilities for ammunition and drones, according to Ukraine's Security Service. 'Available data indicate the destruction of multi-purpose and attack helicopters Mi-8, Mi-26 and Mi-28, as well as the self-propelled anti-aircraft missile and gun complex Pantsir-S1,' an official told the Associated Press. The Kyiv Independent reported that secondary explosions were heard at the airfield during the night. Russia's defence ministry said more than 40 Ukrainian drones were shot down over western Russia and occupied Crimea overnight and into Saturday morning. Earlier this month, nearly a third of Moscow's strategic bomber fleet was destroyed or damaged in a covert Ukrainian operation using cheaply-made drones that had been smuggled into Russian territory. On Friday Ukrainian drones also struck four Su-34 fighter jets at the Marinovka airfield in Russia's Volgograd Oblast. Preliminary reports indicated that two of the jets were destroyed. Despite recent strikes, Ukraine continues to struggle against Russian advances on the battlefield and mounting aerial attacks, as diplomatic efforts to end the war have faltered. Overnight, Russian drones hit a residential tower in the southern port city of Odesa, killing a married couple and injuring at least 17 others, including three children, Ukrainian officials said. There was no immediate comment from Moscow. Smaller, short-range drones are used by both sides on the battlefield and in areas close to the roughly 1,000km (620-mile) front line. Short-range drone attacks have killed at least 395 civilians and injured 2,635 since the war began in February 2022, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine reported Thursday. It said nearly 90 percent of those strikes were carried out by Russian forces. More than 13,300 civilians have been killed and over 34,700 have been injured in the war, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a report on June 11. Also on Saturday, Andrzej Duda, Poland's outgoing president, visited Ukraine and urged Kyiv to be patient during the transition to Karol Nawrocki, his nationalist successor. Mr Nawrocki won this month's presidential election after a campaign in which he criticised Ukraine and accused Volodymyr Zelensky of 'indecent' behaviour towards allies. He has pledged continued support for Ukraine's defence against Russia, but has signalled a possible shift in Warsaw's stance by opposing Kyiv's entry into Western alliances such as Nato. 'Please be patient,' Mr Duda told reporters at a press conference with Mr Zelensky. 'The world looks different from behind the presidential desk, slightly different from what it looks like to a candidate in elections.' Mr Zelensky said he would 'of course' invite Mr Nawrocki to Ukraine after he assumed office.
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Astonishing moment North Korean missile launcher is destroyed by Ukraine drone - igniting projectile that flies through front of vehicle with crew still inside
This is the astonishing moment a North Korean missile launcher is completely destroyed by a Ukrainian drone while its crew was still inside. The footage released by Ukrainian military shows its projectile tearing through the 240mm calibre multiple rocket launcher (MLRS), known as the M1991, in the village of Novopavlivka. It comes just two months after North Korea confirmed for the first time that it had deployed troops and artillery to fight alongside Russians in Ukraine. Posting the video to social media, the Command of the Unmanned Systems Forces, who specialise in drone warfare in the Ukrainian military, said it had decimated the 'rare' North Korean launcher. They wrote: 'In the Novopavliv direction, operators of the 413th Battalion "Raid" Forces of Unmanned Systems detected and destroyed the reactive system of salvage fire M1991 manufactured by North Korea.' The unit added that the incident occurred in April this year and that it was the first time it had seen such levels of North Korean assistance on the battlefield. In the footage, the drone can be seen approaching the MLRS, which has a range of up to 60 kilometres, before it unleashes the jaw-dropping precision strike in the village around 35 miles away from the city of Zaporizhzhia. The impact then causes the warhead to completely rip through to the crew compartment, where two soldiers appear to jump out the window after somehow escaping the blast. The Command of the Unmanned Systems Forces said it then destroyed 'the entire ammunition'. It is thought that the Russian military had sought to use the M1991 as it was an improvement on its own Uragan 220mm MLRS - as Vladimir Putin continues his invasion of Ukraine. North Korea has proven to be a staunch ally of the Russian President after it provided ballistic missiles, 120 long-range artillery systems and 120 MLRS's to the Kremlin. Those figures, which were announced by Ukraine's military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov, represented the most significant direct military package handed to Russia by any country since the war broke out. It was also reported in May that Russia and North Korea had begun building their first road link, with the two countries hailing the construction of a bridge over a border river as a major development that will further expand their political and economic ties. The kilometre-long Tumangang Road bridge, which is expected to take 18 months to construct, aims to expand cross-border travel of people, tourism and circulation of commodities, Russian and North Korean news agencies reported. Before the announcment, both countries simultaneously held a ceremony for the bridge's construction in their respective border cities of Tumangang and Khasan on either side of the Tumen River, close to their existing rail 'Friendship Bridge'. North Korean Premier Pak Thae Song said the bridge's construction would be remembered as 'a historic monument' in bilateral ties, North Korea's KCNA reported. 'This is a big milestone for Russian-Korean relations,' Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin added, according to Russian news agency TASS. 'We are creating a reliable basis for closer cooperation between our two countries, a road for an open and fruitful dialogue.' It came days after Pyongyang confirmed it had sent combat troops to Russia to help it reclaim parts of the Kursk region that Ukrainian forces seized in a stunning incursion last year. Putin thanked North Korea and promised not to forget the sacrifices of its soldiers for Russia. According to a South Korean government intelligence assessment previously shared with lawmakers, North Korea had sent about 15,000 troops to Russia and 4,700 of them have been killed or wounded at that time. State media in North Korea said its fighters had made an 'important contribution' to Russia's war effort by driving Ukrainians out of Russian territory.
The Guardian
6 hours ago
- The Guardian
At least 32 people killed after heavy rain causes flash flooding in northern Pakistan
At least 32 people have been killed in Pakistan in recent flash flooding caused by heavy rains, including a family of tourists who died after being swept away by flood waters while apparently awaiting rescue. Videos of the family stranded on a small piece of land as the raging Swat river in northern Pakistan swept them away were shared widely on social media, prompting anger towards the provincial government as eyewitnesses said the family waited helplessly for more than an hour. Flash floods and heavy rains have killed 32 people, including 16 children, in Pakistan in the past 36 hours; 13 were from Punjab province and 19 from the north-west Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the tourist family died. Sheikh Waqas Akram, the central information secretary of the former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, which is in power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said they had suspended four senior officials from the Swat administration and emergency rescue department. Akram said the chief minister, Ali Amin Gandapur, ordered an inquiry and asked that the report be submitted in a week, in documents seen by the Guardian. 'The province conveyed a meeting on flash floods on 21 June,' Akram told the Guardian. 'Soon after the meeting we issued warnings and announced it through speakers in mosques as well. It was done to spread awareness and ask tourists to be away from the riverbank and never step on the riverbed. At least 71 people were booked in cases in violation of the warnings.' He added: 'It was a tragic and unfortunate incident and the tourists were in the riverbed.' When the flash flood occurred, the family from Punjab province were having a picnic breakfast by the Swat river in the Swat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The family had gone into the river to rescue the children, who had been taking photos, government officials said. According to Akram, at least 17 people were swept away in the flash floods in Swat river – nine bodies of the family have been recovered and one is missing. Four other people were rescued while three are still missing. He said the rescue efforts are continuing. The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) later issued an alert saying there were high flood levels and warning people to take precautions. Pakistan, with a population of more than 240 million, is one of the world's most vulnerable countries to the effects of the climate crisis. Climate induced flash floods in 2022, killed at least 1,700 people and affected more than 33 million people. The incident prompted discussion in Pakistan on the climate crisis, provincial governments' role in preventing such incidents, tourists avoiding warnings and allegations of incompetence and corruption in local government. The former climate change minister Sherry Rehman said the tourists in Pakistan no longer respond to colonial-era instructions such as section 144 – which allows district administrations to place bans on activities – and they seem not to heed extreme weather warnings. Rehman criticised poor government signalling on the climate crisis and a lack of coordinated efforts, saying: 'Public resources also fell egregiously short in this tragedy. The PDMA should have mobilised a helicopter to get to the marooned family in time. It's outrageous negligence on their part not to have.' Many social media users criticised the government for failing to rescue the stranded family as eyewitness accounts said the family was stranded for more than one hour without any help. The PDMAs were created after the deadly 2005 earthquake in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and are responsible for responding in a timely way to natural calamities, floods and disasters. The disaster authorities in different Pakistani provinces have been accused of corruption.
