Ukraine-Russia War Live: North Korea confirms that it sent troops to fight for Putin and ‘Annihilate’ Ukraine

North Korea has confirmed that its soldiers fought for Russia against Ukrainian forces and have hailed them as heroes.

Under his leader Kim Jong Uns orders, North Korean military units fought with the same heroism and bravery as they would have shown if they fought for their own country, State Media KCNA cited the Central Military Commission of the North’s Workers’ Party.

“Those who fought for justice are all heroes and representatives of the honor of the motherland,” quoted Kcna Mr. Kim.

North Korea “considers it an honor to have an alliance with such a strong state as the Russian Federation,” KCNA said.

North Korea sent an estimated a total of 14,000 troops, including 3,000 reinforcements to replace its losses, Ukrainian officials have said. Lack of armored vehicles and drone warfare experience took the heavy losses, but adapted quickly.

US President Donald Trump has appreciated Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky as a quieter person who wants to enter into an agreement, while US officials have threatened to move away from the peace process if Russia does not cooperate.

“I see him as calmer. I think he understands the picture and I think he will make an appointment,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Zelensky last night.

After meeting him in the Vatican after Pope’s funeral, Trump reprimanded Russian President Vladimir Putin and said on social media that there is no “reason” for Russia to shoot missiles in civilian areas.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio meanwhile said the Trump administration may have gave up his attempts to mediate an agreement if Russia and Ukraine are not going ahead.

“It has to happen soon,” Mr. Rubio told the NBC program “Meet the Press”.

“We cannot continue to dedicate time and resources to this effort if it is not going to perform.”

Donald Trump has said he believes that Ukrainian President Volodymy Zelensky is ready to give up Crimea to find a peace deal with Russia.

When asked yesterday if he thought Mr. Zelensky was ready to “give up” the illegally annexed territory, Mr. Trump said, “Oh, I think so.”

He did not comment on the latest comments from Kyiv that rejected the surrender of Crimea in the Ukraine war.

Ukrainian officials are said to have been shocked by an American proposal for a ceasefire agreement with Russia, which included formal recognition of Moscow’s authority over Crimea.

The US president said, before living in the Air Force one last night, his encounter with the Ukrainian wartime president at Pope Francis’ funeral went well.

“It was a nice meeting. It was a beautiful meeting,” he said.

“The best office I’ve ever seen. It’s a beautiful, beautiful scene, but we’re just a lot, he wants to do something good for his country, do a good job and he works hard. We’ll see what’s happening,” said Mr. Trump.

The president specifically called the Russian leader the continued bombing of civilian areas of Ukraine.

“There was no reason why Putin shoots missiles in civilian areas, cities and cities in the last few days. It makes me think he might not stop the war,” Trump posted on his social media platform.

“He just knocks on me and needs to be treated differently through ‘banking’ or ‘secondary sanctions?’ Too many people are dying !!!

The pope was deeply concerned about Russia’s war against Ukraine – especially the fate of the 19,000 Ukrainian children deported to Russia – told Joe Donnelly, appointed the US representative of the Vatican by Joe Biden, told Politico Shortly after the service.

“I think Pope Francis would have been filled with hope, and would hope that the result that came out of this meeting would be good for Ukraine and the world,” Donnelly told Playbook As for the image of the two presidents who meet one-on-one shortly before the service on Saturday morning.

Ukrainian officials are said to have been shocked by an American proposal for a ceasefire agreement with Russia, which included formal recognition of Moscow’s authority over Crimea.

While Kyiv expects to admit territory to Russia, at least temporarily, in the conditions of a ceasefire, the idea of ​​a legal or formal surrender of Crimea – as Vladimir Putin annexed illegally in 2014 – would be impossible, says officials.

According to experts, it would require a change in the Ukrainian constitution and a nationwide vote, and it could be considered betrayal. Legislators and the public are firmly against the idea.

“It doesn’t matter,” Oleksandr morezkho told a legislator with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s party, to Associated Press in Kyiv. “We’ll never recognize Crimea as part of Russia.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied his Russian colleague Vladimir Putin’s congratulations of congratulations celebrating the recovery of Kursk and said that Ukrainian forces remain active in the region.

Ukrainian forces remained active in both Kursk and Belgorod regions, he said on his telegram -channel.

With a report from the top Ukrainian commander Oleksandr Syrskyi, Mr. Zelensky also said that Russian forces had mounted nearly 70 attacks on Ukrainian positions yesterday, with conditions left “difficult” in many areas.

Most of the strokes, said Mr Zelensky, continued in three sectors on the eastern front: Pokrovsk, a Russian goal for months, as well as Kramatorsk and Lyman.

His comments come shortly after Mr. Putin called his supreme commands in Kursk to congratulate them on “victory,” and the end of the operation to expel Ukrainian forces from the region of western Russia, Russian news agencies quoted the Kremlin as saying yesterday.

The State Ria -News Agent reported earlier that a Russian military commander told Mr. Putin that “the scattered remains” of the Ukrainian army that would soon be destroyed in the Kursk region.

Ukraine has denied Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim that his forces have regained full control over the border area in Kursk, insisting that there are still matches.

Here are the most important moments in the battle of Kursk and its influence:

– Ukrainian forces pushed into Kursk on August 6, 2024 in a surprise attack.

– The penetration was a humiliating battle against the Kremlin – the first time the country’s territory was occupied by an invader since World War II.

– Ukraine said Kyiv’s forces caught nearly 1,300 square kilometers and about 100 settlements in the region covering 29,900 square kilometers.

– The Kremlin strengthened Russian forces in Kursk in the fall, and they gradually intensified their efforts to drive the Ukrainians out.

– In February, Russia recovered about two -thirds of the trapped territory and left Ukraine with an area around Sudzha, a border town that was Ukraine’s most important hub in the region.

– Ukraine’s military general staff rejected Moscow’s claim to regain full control over Kursk.

– If confirmed, Russia’s victory in Kursk would weaken Kyiv’s hand in peace talks and remove his negotiating chip for the exchange of territory, the lost earlier in the war.

The US Department of State said it was concerned about North Korea’s direct involvement in Russia’s war in Ukraine and that Pyongyang’s military deployment for Russia must end.

“We are still concerned about (North Korea’s) direct involvement in the war. (North Korea’s) military deployment to Russia and any support from Russian Federation to (North Korea) in turn must end,” a spokesman for the state department said in an E email to Reuters, adding third countries as North Korea “Bear Responsibility” of the war.

North Korea’s top leader Kim Jong Un has said he sent troops to Russia to support his war against Ukraine and marked an official confirmation for the first time.

Mr. Kim said he decided to send combat troops to Russia under a mutual defense treaty signed by him and Russian President Vladimir Putin in June 2024, North’s Central Military Commission said in a statement laid down by state media.

The statement quoted Mr. Kim as saying that the deployment was intended to “wipe out and wipe out the Ukrainian neo-Nazi residents and free the Kursk area in collaboration with the Russian armed forces.”

“Those who fought for justice are all heroes and representatives of the honor of the motherland,” said Mr. Kim.

He added that a monument will soon be erected in Pyongyang to mark North Korea’s battle feats, and that flowers will be laid before the tombstones of the fallen soldiers.

Mr. Kim said the government should take steps to preferably treat and take care of the families of the soldiers who participated in the war.