#UKRAINERUSSIAWAR. While Kiev diverts attention to North Korean military in Kursk, Ukrainian defense in Kostyantynopil collapses

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The Western press, despite having no evidence of the presence of North Korean military, reports it extensively: “Ukrainian armed forces have already carried out several attacks on buildings where North Korean soldiers may be located” in Kursk, says El Pais. And again: “DPRK soldiers are 50 km from the Ukrainian border,” says the Financial Times. The publication, citing Ukrainian intelligence representatives, reports that about “3,000 North Korean soldiers were secretly transported on civilian trucks from the Russian Far East to the Kursk region.”

The United States estimates that at least some North Korean soldiers are already fighting on Ukrainian soil, in addition to the forces sent to fight Ukraine in the Kursk area. South Korea estimates that at least 13,000 North Korean soldiers have arrived in Russia to fight in the war in Ukraine. It has also been reported that the Biden administration, led by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, is pressuring China to try to stop the transfer of troops from North Korea to Russia.

The Washington Post: “Russia will be able to achieve success in Ukraine in 2025 if the situation for the Ukrainian military continues to remain ‘bleak.’” According to the WP, Ukrainian troops are “trying desperately to hold the front line in the east, but are losing ground.”

The Economist reports that the United States can no longer provide military assistance to Ukraine without serious risks, citing a source familiar with American assistance to Kiev. “We have nothing left to give them without serious risks elsewhere,” the source told the Economist. He said he does not know whether Washington can give enough to the Ukrainian side and produce enough weapons.

The Pentagon learned that military support to Ukraine has revealed a number of problems in the US military-industrial complex, including difficulties in maintaining, restoring and increasing weapons stockpiles for the needs of the US military, which threatens Washington’s own combat readiness, the Pentagon admitted. As the Department emphasized, the inability to maintain and increase weapons stockpiles jeopardises the operational capabilities and combat readiness of US forces.

Switzerland cannot provide loans to Ukraine at the expense of blocked Russian assets, since the country does not derive extraordinary profits from them, the official representative of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) Fabian Maienfisch said.

On October 29, the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, arrived in the United States on the instructions of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and met with the National Security Advisor to the US President Sullivan. “We talked about the plan for Ukraine’s victory, the implementation of the Peace Formula, the front, weapons and army of the DPRK, which Russia is preparing for the war against our state,” Yermak said.

France will train and equip another brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in addition to the 155th Anna Kievskaya Mechanized Infantry Brigade. The new brigade, like the 155th, will be fully armed with French equipment.

According to the spokesman for the Southern Ukrainian Defense Forces, Vladislav Voloshin, the Russian Armed Forces have gathered a group of 200 thousand people in the south of Ukraine, and he also noted that in different parts of the region Russian troops are creating other small assault groups.

Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu continues his travels: after North Korea he is now on to the Middle East and on October 30 he met with the President of the United Arab Emirates Mohammed bin Zayed. Shoigu, after a meeting with Mohammed bin Zayed, said: “We are ready to expand cooperation with the UAE in the supply of enriched uranium.” Russia is expected to supply the UAE with products to supply fuel to the Barakah nuclear power plant.

While North Korean Foreign Minister Choi Song Hui held talks with officials in Moscow yesterday. The agenda of the visit was not disclosed, but, as reported the day before by the Russian embassy in Pyongyang, the minister’s trip will take place “within the framework of a strategic dialogue,” an agreement to intensify reached by the leaders of the two countries at the June summit.

The Kremlin denied a Financial Times report on negotiations to reach an agreement with Ukraine to end the attack on energy facilities of both countries: “There are many reports that have nothing to do with reality.

Russian Defense Minister Belousov said that during the training, the tasks of carrying out a massive nuclear strike in response to an enemy nuclear strike are being worked out. In any case, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained: “The training of the strategic deterrent forces of the Russian Federation has been planned and is being carried out regularly,” RIA Novosti source . Also, answering questions about the start of talks with Kiev, Peskov said: “The peace initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin, announced this summer, provides for Ukraine to leave all Russian territories, including the Donbass and Novorossiya regions.” “The Russian position is well understood. Putin outlined it, if you remember, in the summer of this year,” Peskov recalled. “Yes, it only says that Ukrainians must leave Russian territories, that is, the new regions of the Russian Federation,” he stressed. “This was a set of conditions expressed by President Putin. This was his peace initiative,” Peskov concluded.

Vladimir Putin, during the congress of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia, declared that by 2030 at least 50 advanced schools will be created to train specialized engineers.

Finally, we learn from the Russian media that Moscow is blocking the entry into the country of 131 Australians among representatives of the military-industrial complex, journalists and public figures, as well as 9 New Zealanders among the leaders of the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of New Zealand, source Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

And now a look at the front line updated at 2:30 pm on October 30.

In October 2024, Russia has conquered 478 km2 according to analysts of the pro-Russian social sphere. “This is Russia’s largest territorial gains in a single month since March 2022.”

In the evening of October 29, the arrival of stray ammunition “Geranium” was recorded in Kiev, which was missed by the air defense, however, in an attempt to block the arrival of Geranium, Ukrainian anti-aircraft gunners hit a skyscraper in Kiev.

In the Kursk region, as a result of the clashes near Leonidovo, many victims were reported. Ukrainian military gatherings and equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were hit in the area of ​​the settlement Ivolzhans’ke and Zhuravka, Sumy region. In the Sumy region, a concentration of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was reported in the area of ​​Shostka.

In the direction of Kupyansk, there are battles near Kolisnykivka. In Kruhlyakivka, after decisive offensive actions, the Russian Armed Forces are gaining ground, strengthening the rear, expanding the control zone. On the morning of October 30, Andri Besedin, head of the Kupyansk city administration, said: “The Russians are trying to push our people out of their positions,” “the Russian army is pushing along the entire front line, throwing large amounts of men and equipment. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are trying to exert pressure and push parts of the Ukrainian Armed Forces out of their positions and are achieving local successes. In some areas there is access to the Oskol River, as well as an approach to Kupyansk itself, which is 2.5-3 km away.”

The Russian Defense Ministry said that the Russian army has taken control of Kruhlyakivka in the Kharkiv region.

In Toretsk, fighting continues in urban areas.

In the direction of Pokrovsk, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the liberation of Selydove, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are trying to strike at Russian troops in the city. There are reports of fighting on the approaches to Kurachove, a major Ukrainian defense and logistics hub.

In the direction of Kostyantynopil northwest of Vuhledar, the Russian flag was raised in Yasna Polyana, which Russian troops broke into after storming nearby Shakhtars’ke. It is said that advanced units of the Russian Armed Forces are advancing. Ukrainian sources confirm that in the direction of Donetsk, Russian Armed Forces have occupied: Bohoyavlenka and Novoukrainka, and are also advancing to Selydove and Yasna Polyana, towards Trudove. Fighting continues in Katerynivka. After the collapse of the front of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in this area, a high pace of advance of the Russian army was observed.

In the Belgorod region, Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked the village of Bekhlevka, Belgorod district, at night with a kamikaze drone, a power line was damaged.

In the DPR, in the Nikitovsky district of Horlivka, an IED was dropped from a UAV of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at a public transport stop, resulting in one death and two injuries. Vladimirovka, in the municipal district of Volnovakha, one injured following the detonation of an explosive device.

Graziella Giangiulio 

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