Ukraine-Russia war latest: North Korea sends more troops to Putin as Starmer and Zelensky meet in Paris today – UK Times

North Korea sent nearly 3,000 more troops to Russia in January and February to support Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, South Korea’s military said in its latest assessment this morning.

North Korea has also sent more missiles, artillery equipment and ammunition to help Russia and could increase its weapons supplies further depending on the war situation, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

The military equipment sent to Russia includes a “considerable amount” of short-range ballistic missiles, 170mm self-propelled howitzers and around 220 units of 240mm multiple rocket launchers.

Since last October, North Korea has allegedly sent around 11,000 military personnel to fight in the war against Ukraine in its first involvement in a large-scale conflict since the 1950-53 Korean War, and the Joint Chiefs assessed that around 4,000 of them have been killed or injured.

Some 30 leaders will meet in Paris today to discuss with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky how to strengthen military support, review ceasefire efforts and assess what role they could play if a peace deal is struck with Russia.

The third summit of what France has called the coalition of the “willing and able” brings together the likes of Polish prime minister Donald Tusk, Nato secretary general Mark Rutte, Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni and Turkish vice president Cevdet Yilmaz.

“First and foremost (we will discuss) the immediate support for Ukraine. It must go on because it is necessary to continue the resistance,” president Emmanuel Macron told reporters on last evening at a press conference with Mr Zelensky.

Mr Macron committed to a further €2bn in French military support to Ukraine. Mr Zelensky said other partners could announce aid packages today.

Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of flouting a truce on energy strikes brokered by the United States last week, and conditions set by the Kremlin have cast a shadow over a planned ceasefire in the Black Sea announced on Tuesday.

Three days of talks culminated in an agreement to “eliminate the use of force” in the Black Sea and to continue working towards a halt to attacks on energy infrastructure in Russia and Ukraine. But hours after the latest agreement, Russia launched a drone attack on the Ukrainian port of Mykolaiv, which provides the country with access to the Black Sea.

Vladimir Putin’s latest demand is that Russia’s agricultural sector be allowed to use the Swift banking system as a reward for a ceasefire in the Black Sea, allowing it to move its grain and other farming exports.

The move is a sleight of hand to end the banking sanctions imposed by the US and Europe following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

After three days of intense negotiations, the Trump administration, Ukraine and Russia agreed to a limited ceasefire in which the key details, including what was covered and how it will start, were disputed by the warring sides, indicating the road to a complete truce will be long and mired with contention.

The negotiations focused on easing Black Sea shipping and halting long-range strikes on energy infrastructure, relatively low-hanging fruit that both sides had experience in negotiating before the US brokered indirect talks.

While much is yet unknown, here is a breakdown of the key elements of the partial ceasefire and what is at stake in the coming weeks as talks continue.

Both sides differed on the start time of halting strikes on energy sites and accused the other of violating the ceasefire.

Russia also conditioned its part in opening Black Sea shipping on the US lifting sanctions, which Kyiv dismissed.

Russia’s new ambassador to the United States will informally present his credentials to the Trump administration today, the US State Department said last night.

Alexander Darchiev, who was recently named as Russian ambassador to the US, will present credential at 2.15am eastern time (1815 GMT), according to the department’s public schedule.

The department said Louis L Bono, the Senior Bureau official for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, will attend.

Moscow has not had an ambassador in the US since its last ambassador left his post in October.

Volodymyr Zelensky has said he wanted the US and Kyiv’s other Western allies to remain strong in countering Russia’s demands and narrative in its three-year war on his country.

Pro-Kremlin comments by Washington were weakening US pressure on Russia and bringing peace no closer in the war, Mr Zelensky said.

“They are posing conditions on sanctions to the American side. If America stands strong… we are standing on our own land and are defending ourselves,” Mr Zelensky said, speaking to a panel of European journalists in Paris.

“We have shown our resilience. And now it is very important for our partners to be at least as resilient as we are, though they have more capabilities,” he said.

On being asked whether he believed the Americans would remain strong, he answered, in English: “I hope so. God bless they will.”

European troops deployed in Ukraine to monitor a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow could respond to a Russian attack, French president Emmanuel Macron said.

Speaking after talks with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr Macron said European armies could respond to a “conflict situation” if one emerged.

“If there was again a generalised aggression against Ukrainian soil, these armies would be under attack and then it’s our usual framework of engagement,” Mr Macron said.

“Our soldiers, when they are engaged and deployed, are there to react and respond to the decisions of the commander in chief and, if they are in a conflict situation, to respond to it.”

French president Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday it was “much too early” to lift sanctions against Russia.

“The question of (lifting) the sanctions will come, but in due time within the framework of a solid and lasting peace. So it is much too early,” Mr Macron said alongside Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Paris.

The United States reached separate deals on Tuesday with Ukraine and Russia to pause their attacks at sea and against energy targets, with Washington agreeing to push to lift some sanctions against Moscow.

British troops must be ready to fight Vladimir Putin’s forces to defend Ukraine, a senior Volodymyr Zelensky aide has said.

ZIgor Zhovkva, a top Ukrainian negotiator, said European soldiers should be prepared to fight Russia and defend Ukraine if deployed to the country after any ceasefire agreement.

It comes after Sir Keir Starmer has urged a “coalition of a willing” to organise a European peacekeeping force to monitor Ukraine’s border and enforce a peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv.

“It’s not the amount which matters… it’s also their readiness to fight, their readiness to defend, their readiness to be equipped,” Mr Zhovkva told AFP.