Ukraine war live: North Korean soldiers ‘brought in again’ on Kursk frontline

Ukraine believes that the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in relation to Russian war crimes will continue despite US president Donald Trump imposing sanctions on the organisation, Kyiv’s foreign ministry said on Friday.

Mr Trump authorised economic and travel sanctions targeting people involved in ICC investigations of US citizens or US allies, such as Israel.

The ICC is a permanent court that prosecutes individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and the crime of aggression against the territory of member states or by their nationals.

“We are convinced that the ICC will continue to fulfil important functions in Ukraine’s case, in particular bringing Russian war criminals to responsibility,” foreign ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said at a press briefing in Ukraine’s capital.

“We know that relations between the US and the ICC have a long history,” Mr Tykhyi added.

David Lammy said did not see any hope of an imminent end to the Ukraine’s war with Russiadespite Donald Trump’s pledge to end the war under his second administration.

Mr Lammy who was in Ukraine and met president Volodymyr Zelensky made remarks as peace talks are set to begin at a security conference in Munich next week.

“I am not sure we are weeks away from peace talks. And I say that because our assessment, which I’m quite sure the US shares, is that Putin shows absolutely no appetite for negotiation and to bring this war to an end,” he told the Guardian.

“We are still very much in the depths of winter. The truth is the young men and women that make up the Ukrainian force are fighting for their country’s future on the ground, and that will go on for a number of months …

“The Ukrainians are pretty clear there can be no ceasefire before negotiations. So I don’t anticipate a ceasefire in this war anytime soon. I’m very clear that Putin at the moment shows no desire to negotiate. And therefore, sadly, I think this war of attrition will go on for some months yet.”

Russian forces are closing in on the strategically important eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk after capturing a string of villages to its south, and Ukraine has halted production at its only coking coal mine nearby due to the advance.

Pokrovsk is a road and rail hub in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which had a pre-war population of some 60,000 people. While most people have fled, Ukraine estimated last month that up to 11,000 still remain in the city.

It lies on a key road used by the Ukrainian military to supply other embattled eastern outposts including the towns of Chasiv Yar and Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region.

Ukraine’s only mine that produces coking coal – used in its once vast steel industry and vital for the country’s pre-war economy – is just a 20-minute drive to the west of Pokrovsk, and open source data shows Russian forces are less than 2 km (1.24 miles) from one of the mine shafts.

Moscow says it has annexed Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region and sees taking control of Pokrovsk as an important stepping stone to incorporating the entire region into Russia. Kyiv and the West reject Russia’s territorial claims as illegal and accuse Moscow of prosecuting a war of colonial conquest.

Control of the city, which the Russian media call “the gateway to Donetsk”, would allow Moscow to severely disrupt Ukrainian supply lines along the eastern front and boost its campaign to capture Chasiv Yar, which sits on higher ground offering potential control of a wider area.

Squeezing the Ukrainian military’s access to the road network in the vicinity would make it harder for Kyiv’s troops to hold pockets of territory either side of Pokrovsk, which could allow Russia to advance the front line.

Thousands of opponents to Iran’s authorities rallied in Paris on Saturday, joined by Ukrainians to call for the fall of the government in Tehran, hopeful that U.S. President Donald Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ campaign could lead to change in the country.

The protest, organised by the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which is banned in Iran, comes as two of the group’s members face imminent execution with a further six sentenced to death in November.

“We say your demise has arrived. With or without negotiations, with or without nuclear weapons, uprising and overthrow await you,” NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi said in a speech.

People from across Europe, often bussed in for the event, waved Iranian flags and chanted anti-government slogans amid images deriding Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Hundreds of Ukrainians accusing Iran of backing Russian President Vladimir Putin in the war against Ukraine joined the protest.

Iryna Serdiuk, 37, a nurse turned interpreter originally from the embattled Donbass region, and now exiled in Germany, said she had come to Paris to join forces against a common enemy.

“I’m happy to see these Iranians because they are opposition. They support Ukraine and not the Iranian government which gives Russia weapons. We are together and one day it will be victory for Ukraine and Iran too,” she said.

The Russian economy has shown resilience during the three years of war in Ukraine and Western sanctions. However, as the war approaches its fourth year, the economy faces major challenges with key economic policymakers at odds on how to address them.

Below are the key challenges for the Russian economy in 2025:

• Russian annual inflation reached 9.5% in 2024, driven by high military and national security spending, which is set to account for 41% of total state budget spending in 2025, state subsidies on loans, and spiralling wage growth amid labour shortages.
• Inflation tops the list of economic woes in public opinion polls, with prices for staple foods such as butter, eggs, and vegetables showing double-digit growth last year.

Economic slowdown

• The government projects that economic growth rates will slow to 2.5% in 2025 from around 4% in 2024 as a result of measures to cool down the overheated economy, while the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects growth at 1.4% this year.
• The pro-government economic think tank TsMAKP estimated that many industrial sectors outside defence have been stagnating since 2023, raising prospects of stagflation, a combination of high inflation and economic stagnation.

Budget deficit

• Russia’s budget deficit reached 1.7% of GDP in 2024, while the country’s National Wealth Fund, the main source of financing the deficit, has been depleted by two-thirds during three years of war.
• The government raised taxes to bring the deficit down to 0.5% of GDP in 2025, but its revenues could also fall due to the latest U.S. energy sanctions, which targeted Russia’s oil and gas sector.

Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a “comprehensive strategic partnership” pact in Pyongyang on 19 June, 2024, including a mutual defence clause in case of aggression against either country.

Kim expressed “unconditional support” for “all of Russia’s policies”, including “a full support and firm alliance” for Russia’s war in Ukraine. Putin has said Russia would help North Korea build satellites.

The US and South Korea say North Korea has shipped ballistic missiles, anti-tank rockets and millions of rounds of ammunition for Russia to use in the war. Moscow and Pyongyang have denied weapons transfers.

Ukraine, South Korea and the US say Kim has sent more than 11,000 troops to fight for Russia in its western Kursk region, part of which has been held by Ukraine since August. Ukraine says many North Korean soldiers have been killed and wounded. Moscow has never confirmed or denied their presence.