Ukraine’s top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Saturday (November 9, 2024) that there were reports North Korean troops were preparing for combat alongside Russian forces. File. Photo Credit: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service Via Reuters

Ukraine’s top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Saturday (November 9, 2024) that there were reports North Korean troops were preparing for combat alongside Russian forces.

“We have numerous reports of North Korean soldiers preparing to participate in combat operations alongside Russian Forces,” Mr. Syrskyi wrote on Facebook of his conversation with Christopher Cavoli, a senior U.S. general who heads the U.S. European Command.

Mr. Syrskyi said the situation in front-line sectors of the more than 2-1/2-year-old war with Russia remained “difficult and show signs of escalation”.

Russia said Monday (October 28, 2024) it took Tsukuryne — another village in eastern Ukraine, south of the city of Pokrovsk where its forces have been advancing for months
| Photo Credit: AFP

Russia said Monday (October 28, 2024) it took another village in eastern Ukraine, south of the city of Pokrovsk where its forces have been advancing for months. 

Moscow’s forces, outnumbering and outgunning the Ukrainian army, have advanced fast towards Pokrovsk since the summer. 

Moscow’s Defence Ministry said troops had taken the village of Tsukuryne, some 25 kilometres (15 miles) south of Pokrovsk. It is one of the larger villages Moscow has claimed in recent weeks in its advance in the Donetsk region. 

Moscow has spent months advancing westwards in the embattled Donetsk region. 

Ukraine has evacuated much of Pokrovsk, a former mining city that was home to some 60,000 people before Moscow launched its full-scale offensive in February 2022. 

Thousands have fled the city as Russia advances. 

Tsukuryne lies south of the town of Selydove.

A view shows a building hit by a Russian air strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in central Kharkiv, Ukraine October 28, 2024
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Russian strikes on a residential quarter of Ukraine’s second city of Kharkiv killed at least three people on Tuesday (October 29, 2024), the mayor said.

“At 2:51 a.m., Kharkiv came under aerial attack”, Igor Terekhov said on Telegram, adding that “two houses were destroyed and about 20 houses sustained varying degrees of damage”.

He added that responders were clearing the rubble and three people had been confirmed dead.

Kharkiv lies around 30 kilometres (18 miles) from the Russian border and has been pounded by Russian aerial attacks throughout the two-and-a-half-year war.

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A Russian strike on Monday (October 28, 2024) damaged the Derzhprom building, a distinctive early Soviet-era modernist skyscraper that has become a symbol of the heavily attacked northeastern city.

The attack injured at least six people and also damaged a medical institution.