The Ukraine IS bombing deep inside Russia….
This time naval assets in the Black Sea…..
More on North Korea and Russia leaders hanging out and talking about supplying Russia with military arms….
Russia continues to drone attack the Ukrraine grain facilities in Odessa , but the Ukraine has moved anti-missile units ion the area to shoot down the Russian drone’s….
The European Union is working with the Ukraine to intergrate it into the EU….
Efforts are uneven ….
The Ukraine AND Russia are thirsty for more weapons and ammo to shoot against each other….
The pre-dawn attack damaged two ships and triggered a large blaze at a naval shipyard in Crimea that plays a critical role in Russia’s war effort.
Here’s what we’re covering:
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The shipyard strike underscores Ukraine’s growing capacity to hit targets deep into Russian-held territory.
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Evan Gershkovich’s family appeals to the U.N. for help in securing his release.
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Putin, hungry for ammunition, makes a lavish welcome for the leader of North Korea.
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More suspected Russian drone debris is found in Romania.
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A papal envoy heads to China, his latest trip in pursuit of an elusive peace for Ukraine.
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North Korea test-fires two missiles as Kim meets with Putin in Russia.
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The E.U.’s top official calls for expanding the bloc amid Russia’s war in Ukraine…….
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
According to the Kremlin, Kim told Putin at the summit, “We have always supported and stand by all decisions of President Putin and the Russian government.” The North Korean leader reportedly said that “Russia is now rising to the sacred struggle to defend its state sovereignty and protect its security,” adding that he hoped Pyongyang and Moscow would “always stand together in the fight against imperialism.”
Putin said Russia would look for ways to deepen military collaboration with North Korea “within the framework of the current rules.” “There are certain restrictions, and Russia abides by them,” he told the “60 Minutes Live” television program, “but there are things we can talk about.” Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the sanctions that Russia introduced against Pyongyang in the past “were adopted in a completely different geopolitical environment.”
Kim is expected to visit more sites in Russia after his meeting with Putin, Russian state media reported. The North Korean leader will travel to Vladivostok, a Russian city near the border with North Korea and China, the Russian state news outlet RIA Novosti reported, citing Putin. The Russian president also reportedly said Kim would visit factories for civilian and military equipment in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, more than 700 miles away, according to the news agency.
In remarks, Putin said that Kim would fly to Komsomolsk-on-Amur. If so, the trip would constitute a break from his preference of traveling by armored train.
The White House is watching for the outcome of Putin and Kim’s meeting, said Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, on Wednesday. “We’ve got to see what actually shakes out of this meeting and the degree to which any kind of an arms deal was consummated,” Kirby said. “If they decide to move forward with some sort of arms deal, we’ll obviously take the measure of that and we’ll deal with it appropriately.”
Before the summit between Kim and Putin, the Pentagon warned North Korea not to supply arms to Russia. North Korea is thought to haveartillery shells and rockets compatible with Soviet and Russian weapons systems that Russia is using in Ukraine.
Drones attacked Ukraine’s Odessa region, Oleh Kiper, the Ukrainian governor of the area, said early Wednesday. The attack damaged port facilities, civil infrastructure and injured seven people, two of them seriously, Kiper said. Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said in a statement that Russian drones had targeted port facilities along the Danube River. “Despite the aggressor’s attempts to reduce their export potential, the ports continue to operate,” he said. “At the same time, every attack on the port infrastructure of Ukraine is an attack on the food security of the whole world.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry said two ships undergoing repairs in Sevastopol were damaged by an attack that it blamed on Ukraine. Air defense systems shot down seven cruise missiles, while a Russian patrol ship destroyed all enemy unmanned boats, it added.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military intelligence service said the strike damaged a Russian submarine and a landing vessel. The Washington Post could not independently verify the reports. At least 24 people were injured in the attack early Wednesday, according to Mikhail Razvozhaev, a Kremlin-appointed official overseeing the area, who said that the assault resulted in a fire.
Britain’s Defense Ministry said it was “highly likely” that “elements of Russia’s new 25th Combined Arms Army” have “deployed to Ukraine for the first time” — even though as recently as last month, recruitment ads for the unit “claimed it would only deploy to Ukraine from December 2023.”
The ministry said in its daily intelligence assessment that the unit could “have been rushed into action early” in part because Russia’s military is overstretched on the front amid Ukraine’s ongoing counteroffensive. But the ministry said the early deployment also could be an attempt to “regenerate an uncommitted reserve force in the theater to provide commanders with more operational flexibility.”
The Biden administration has drawn up a new system for responding to reports of civilians injured or killed by foreign forces using American-made weapons. The Civilian Harm Incident Response Guidance, or CHIRG, will prompt officials to investigate such incidents, and outlines actions that can be taken in response, including the halting of arms sales. The news follows Biden’s decision in July to send controversial, U.S.-made cluster munitions to Ukraine. The weapons are banned by much of the world because unexploded bomblets can pose risks to civilians years after the weapon is fired.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Ukraine is making “great strides” toward joining the European Union, but she stressed that membership is a merit-based process, and she did not offer a timeline for Ukrainian membership.
In her annual State of the European Union speech Wednesday, von der Leyen said the European Commission would propose to extend temporary protection to Ukrainians. The program gives Ukrainian refugees the right to live, study and work in the 27-member bloc. But as The Post has reported, E.U. countries have in some cases fallen short of the program’s ambitious promise, with many Ukrainian refugees struggling to find jobs, register their children in schools and otherwise integrate into their host countries.
The E.U. on Wednesday removed sanctions on three Russian oligarchs, a rare move amid the war in Ukraine, during which the E.U. has imposed rafts of new sanctions on Russian people and entities. Of the three named in the rollback, Farkhad Akhmedov, Grigory Berezkin and Alexander Shulgin, Shulgin had won a court case last week arguing that the basis for the sanctions, his influence as the head of Russian online retail platform Ozon, no longer applied because he had stepped down from the position.
