Ukraine-Russia war: Moscow ‘to fire more ballistic missiles’ as Putin threatens West

Ukraine has lost over 40 per cent of the territory in Russia’s Kursk region that it rapidly seized in a surprise incursion in August as Russian forces have mounted waves of counter-assaults, a senior Ukrainian military source said.

The source, who is on Ukraine’s General Staff, said Russia had deployed some 59,000 troops to the Kursk region since Kyiv’s forces swept in and advanced swiftly, catching Moscow unprepared 2-1/2 years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“At most, we controlled about 1,376 square kilometres (531 square miles), now of course this territory is smaller. The enemy is increasing its counterattacks,” the source said.

“Now we control approximately 800 square kilometres (309 square miles). We will hold this territory for as long as is militarily appropriate.”

Nato general secretary Mark Rutte has travelled to Donald Trump’s 126-room gold-encrusted Mar-a-Lago estate to meet with the president-elect.

Mr Rutte met with Trump on Friday 22 November to discuss a “range of global security issues facing the Alliance”, Nato said.

He also met with US Congressman Mike Waltz and other members of the President-elect’s national security team.

During Trump’s first term, he repeatedly said he wanted out of the alliance and complained about the US paying for most of the organisation’s defence.

Trump argued he was sick of European “free-loaders” who were profiting from US protection, despite not living up to the Nato goal of spending 2 per cent of their GDP on defences.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Friday that its forces had captured the settlement of Novodmytrivka in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, their latest gain in what Defence Minister Andrei Belousov described as an accelerated advance.

Ukraine’s military made no mention of the village, north of the key town of Kurakhove. But in a late night report, the General Staff noted it was among eight villages where Russian forces were engaged in fighting and trying to advance.

More than 900 miles from London, frenetic activity is underway in the countryside of Poland, Finland, and the Baltic States: bulldozers and diggers are constructing field defences. Anti-tank ditches, tank traps, and pillboxes are being built and installed. In all these countries, laying minefields – even controversial anti-personnel minefields – is under active consideration.

Poland is spending at least €2.5bn (£2.1bn) on its border defence system, including building a sky shield system akin to Israel’s “Iron Dome” to protect its eastern border from a growing threat from Russia.

Meanwhile, in response to the “hybrid war” tactics on several Baltic fronts, hundreds of millions of euros are being invested by the Baltic states to strengthen their defence lines with another major project, planned by Nato members Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, set to begin in 2025.

And what is the UK’s response to an increasing global threat? The country is scrapping £500m worth of military equipment – ships, drones, and helicopters – and will conduct a strategic defence review to decide what to do next.

Francis Tusa has more analysis here:

A senior North Korean general has been wounded in a Ukrainian strike in Russia’s Kursk region, Western officials have told the Wall Street Journal.

Washington has previously warned that the 10,000 North Korean troops reportedly deployed in Kursk, where Kyiv’s forces staged an incursion in August, could be targeted by Russian forces. But the fresh claims mark the first time Western officials have said that a North Korean military officer has become a casualty.

The officials did not disclose the identity of the senior North Korean officer or how he was wounded, the outlet reports.

Former US-Germany ambassador Richard Grenell, who Reuters reports is Donald Trump’s favoured pick for a new Ukraine war envoy post, has warned that the US media is not giving enough coverage to former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev’s claims over the prospect of World War 3.

In an insight into Mr Grenell’s thinking on the war, as reports suggest he could be tasked with playing a major role in Mr Trump’s efforts to bring the conflict to a rapid pause, he has appeared critical of outgoing US president Joe Biden’s authorisation of allowing Kyiv to strike Russian territory with US missiles.

In one post on X, he said: “Joe Biden authorizes Ukraine to launch missiles inside Russia – and then orders an evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Kiev. Infuriating. Biden can’t even pick up the phone to speak to Putin.”

In another post, Mr Grenell shared a claim by Mr Medvedev, in which the Russian hawk said: “Russia’s new nuclear doctrine means Nato missiles fired against our country could be deemed an attack by the bloc on Russia. Russia could retaliate with WMD against Kiev and key Nato facilities, wherever they’re located. That means World War III.”

Mr Grenell wrote: “This isn’t getting enough media coverage in America.”

Donald Trump is considering tapping his former intelligence chief Richard Grenell to hold a new role of US special envoy for the Russia-Ukraine conflict, four sources familiar with the White House transition plans have told Reuters.

Mr Grenell, who served as ambassador to Germany and was acting director of national intelligence during Trump’s 2017-2021 term, campaigned for Mr Trump in the lead up to the US election, was a top contender to be secretary of state – but was ultimately passed over for senator Marco Rubio.

While there is currently no special envoy dedicated solely to resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Mr Trump is considering creating the role, according to the four sources.

Mr Grenell’s supporters note he has had a long diplomatic career and has a deep knowledge of European affairs. In addition to serving as ambassador to Germany, Grenell was also a special presidential envoy for Serbia and Kosovo peace negotiations.

In remarks that will worry Kyiv, Mr Grenfell advocated in July for the creation of “autonomous zones” as a means of settling the conflict, and has also suggested he would not be in favour of Ukraine joining Nato in the immediate future, a position he shares with many Trump allies.

Russia has included occupied Ukrainian territories in its recent greenhouse gas inventory report to the United Nations, sparking fury among Ukrainian officials and activists at the Cop29 climate summit.

“We see that Russia is using international platforms to legalise their actions, to legalise their occupation of our territory,” Ukraine’s deputy environment minister Olga Yukhymchuk told Reuters, adding that Kyiv is in touch with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to resolve the dispute.

In its 2022 annual report of greenhouse gas emissions, Russia claimed it could only provide data for 85 out of 89 of its territories “due to the absence of baseline data on land use for the territories of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Luhansk People’s Republic, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, annexed in September 2022”.

Russia had previously included emissions from Ukraine’s Crimea region, annexed in 2014, in its recent reporting submissions to the UNFCCC.

Ukrainian environment minister Svitlana Grynchuk raised the issue in a speech to delegates at the Cop29 summit earlier this week, saying Russia’s reporting on Ukraine territories undermines the integrity of global climate efforts.

Warning of the risk of double-counting emissions in territories that together exceed the size of Portugal and Azerbaijan, Ms Grynchuk said: “It will bring us to a point that we do not achieve any of our goals if we don’t have proper reporting under the Paris Agreement.”