Ukraine-Russia war: At least 23 injured in Kharkiv missile attack

Satellite images show North Korea is expanding a key weapons manufacturing complex which assembles a type of short-range missile used by Russia in its war against Ukraine, researchers at a US-based think tank have said.

Sam Lair, a research associate at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, said the Ryongsong Machine Complex in Hamhung was the only plant known to produce the Hwasong-11 class of solid-fuel ballistic missiles, which Ukrainian officials say have been used by Russia in the conflict.

The satellite images, taken in early October by the commercial satellite firm Planet Labs, show what appears to be an additional assembly building under construction as well as a new housing facility, likely intended for workers, according to the analysis by researchers at CNS.

“We see this as a suggestion that they’re massively increasing, or they’re trying to significantly increase, the throughput of this factory,” Mr Lair told Reuters.

Ukraine has lost over 40 per cent of the territory in Russia’s Kursk region that it captured in a surprise incursion in August as Russian forces amass tens of thousands of troops and mount waves of counter-assaults, a senior Ukrainian military source has told Reuters.

The source, who is on Ukraine’s General Staff, said Russia had deployed 59,000 troops to the Kursk region since Kyiv’s forces swept in and advanced swiftly, catching Moscow unprepared.

“At most, we controlled about 1,376 square kilometres, now of course this territory is smaller. The enemy is increasing its counterattacks,” the source said.

“Now we control approximately 800 square kilometres. We will hold this territory for as long as is militarily appropriate.”

Russia has removed a senior general in Ukraine for giving misleading reports about the progress of the war as defence minister Andrei Belousov tries to clear out poor commanders, pro-Russian war bloggers and state media said.

Ahead of winter, Russian forces advanced at the fastest rate in Ukraine since the start of the 2022 invasion, though progress was much slower in some areas – particularly around Siversk in the eastern region of Donetsk.

Russian media cited unidentified sources as saying that Colonel General Gennady Anashkin, the commander of the Southern Grouping, had been removed from his command, though there was no official confirmation.

“Only the lazy did not write about the problems there: overall, it took the system about two months to react properly,” Rybar, a pro-Russian blogger said on Telegram.

“Anashkin, was removed from office for false reports in the Seversk direction,” Rybar added.

In a message to delegates at the fifth review of the International Mine Ban Treaty, also known as the Ottawa Convention, Mr Guterres warned some parties were falling behind in their commitments to destroy the weapons, 25 years after it came into force.

“I call on states parties to meet their obligations and ensure compliance to the convention, while addressing humanitarian and developmental impacts through financial and technical support,” Mr Guterres said at the opening of the conference in Cambodia.

“I also encourage all states that have not yet acceded to the convention to join the 164 that have done so. A world without anti-personnel mines is not just possible. It is within reach.”

Britain and its allies will not be intimidated by Russian cyberthreats into stopping supporting Ukraine, cabinet office minister Pat McFadden has told Nato, urging the military alliance to work together more closely to stay ahead in “the new AI arms race”.

Addressing a Nato Cyber Defence Conference in London, Mr McFadden warned that Nato, businesses and institutions must do “everything they can to lock their own digital doors” to protect themselves from what he called an increasingly aggressive Russia.

And he called for Ukraine’s allies to double down on their support for Kyiv against Vladimir Putin, who he said was trying “to deter our support for Ukraine with his threats”.

“We will not join those voices of weakness who want to give Putin a veto over our help for Ukraine,” Mr McFadden said.

“While no one should underestimate the Russian aggressive and reckless cyber threat to Nato, we will not be intimidated by it and we will never allow it to dictate our decisions or policies. And we will do everything we can to defend our countries against it.”

Former Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba believes that Mocow’s war with Kyiv will not end quickly even after US president-elect Donald Trump takes office next year.

“I do not expect any quick ending of the war,” Mr Kuleba told CNN.

“What I know for certain is that first: [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy will not leave under pressure,” he said. “Second, Ukraine will not agree to any quick solution. And third, most importantly, I would like to remind everyone that the key to peace lies in Moscow not in Kyiv.”

The Ukrainian president earlier this month said the war will end “faster” when Mr Trump takes over as US president.

Mr Trump had claimed repeatedly that the Ukraine-Russia war would not have started if he had been president and would settle the war in one day.

Donald Trump’s top security advisor has called for an end to the escalation of the war between Ukraine and Russia, urging both nations to come to the negotiating table.

“We need to bring this to a responsible end. We need to restore deterrence, restore peace, and get ahead of this escalation ladder, rather than responding to it,” said Mike Waltz, the president-elect’s pick for national security adviser.

“President Trump has been very clear about the need to end this conflict,” he told Fox News yesterday.

“We need to be discussing who’s at that table, whether it’s an agreement, an armistice, how to get both sides to the table and then what’s the framework of a deal?”

The US Air Force has said that a number of small drones were detected last week around three bases in eastern England used by American forces.

The drones were spotted between Wednesday and Friday near RAF Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall and RAF Feltwell. They were actively monitored after they were seen in the vicinity of and over the three bases, U.S. Air Forces Europe said in a statement.

The Air Force didn’t identify who was behind the incursions, but said base officials determined there was no impact on residents or critical infrastructure.

James Scott Rhys Anderson, who says he is a former British soldier, has been captured in Russia’s Kursk region while fighting for Ukraine, according to Russian state media.

The 22-year-old man’s father told the Daily Mail he feared his son would be tortured, while the UK Foreign Office confirmed it was “supporting the family of a British man following reports of his detention”.

His capture would mark one of the first known cases of a Western national being captured on Russian soil while fighting for Ukraine.

So, who is Mr Anderson, and how did this man come to be captured by Russian forces?