Ukraine-Russia war latest: Blow to Putin’s forces as Kyiv destroys weapons store with North Korean missiles

Ukrainian forces engaged in 172 clashes from Monday into Tuesday morning, Ukraine’s general staff said.

Russia focussed their attacks on the eastern Pokrovsk and Kurakhove fronts as they continued attempts to push westwards from Donetsk.

Ukrainian forces repelled 26 assaults on the Pokrovsk front, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

The Kurakhove front, roughly 50 kilometres south of Pokrovsk, saw over 37 Russian attacks, which Ukraine’s general staff say were successfully defended.

Clashes were also reported on the Kharkiv, Kupiansk, Lyman, Kramatorsk, and Toretsk fronts. These fronts are all in eastern and northeastern Ukraine.

Ukraine’s operation in Russia’s Kursk region also continues. Russia carried out 17 airstrikes in Kursk over the past 24 hours, Ukraine says.

North Korean soldiers could fight alongside the Russian army in Ukraine, South Korea’s defence minister told the country’s parliament after media reports claimed Pyongyang had lost troops in the war.

Kim Yong-hyun claimed that North Korean troops could be sent to Ukraine under the mutual defence treaty signed during Russian president Vladimir Putin’s visit to Pyongyang in June.

Mr Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed a “comprehensive partnership agreement” that provided for mutual assistance “using all available means” in the event of aggression against either country. The treaty served to deepen military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow.

Read the full report by The Independent’s Shweta Sharma:

Ukraine’s air force says it shot down 18 Russian drones in an overnight attack between Monday and Tuesday.

Russian forces launched two Iskander-M ballistic missiles and 19 drones in the attack on the southern region of Odesa, the air force said on Telegram.

But after 18 drones were shot down, the last one returned to Russian territory, Reuters reported.

Oleh Kiper, the Odesa regional governor, said a fire broke out on three floors of an apartment building in the city of Chornomorsk. No casualties were reported.

Another fire was extinguished at an administratice and production building, and one drone dropped into an open area without detonating.

On Monday, a Russian missile hit vessel bearing the flag of Palau. One Ukrainian national was killed and five crew members were injured in the second such attack in two days, officials said.

Donald Trump has reportedly spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin as many as seven times since leaving the White House.

A new book from journalist Bob Woodward includes extensive reporting about President Joe Biden’s “blunt, profanity-laced” behind-the-scenes responses to Putin’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza.

Alex Woodward reports:

Vladimir Putin has demolished his holiday villa by the Black Sea after he stopped visiting the area out of fear for his life relating to strikes from Ukraine, a Russian opposition website has claimed.

The site of his villa near Sochi has become a regular spot for Ukrainian drone attacks – something which Putin “fears”, according to Proekt.

The independent news site published a pair of satellite images, one showing the villa standing in May 2023 and another from May 2024 after it was flattened. Proekt said the “site of the dacha is now a pit”.

Read the full report below:

Hungary will oppose the EU decision to provide a $35 billion loan to Ukraine at the expense of frozen Russian assets - calling instead to wait for the US presidential election.

Mihály Varga, Hungary’s Finance Minister, said on October 8 that the “prolongation of the Russian sanctions” should be decided “after the US elections”.

He added: “That was the Hungarian position… We have to see in which direction the future US administration is going [on] this issue.”

Varga said the candidates are adopting different positions one “in the direction [of] peace” and the other “continue to the war”.

Ukraine will not have to return the money which comes as part of the $50 billion loan plan from G7 leaders, because it comes from Russian assets.

The EU is committed to providing $35 billion in total as per the terms of the plan.

Russian Shahed drones violated the no-fly zone near a Ukrainian nuclear powerplant - prompting suggestions Russia may be preparing to strike nuclear infrastructure.

Energoatom, a state-owned nuclear power company and Ukraine’s largest power producer, said in a statement: "On the night of 6-7 October, two Russian UAVs were spotted near the industrial site of the Pivdennoukrainsk NPP. The distance between the UAVs and the nuclear facilities was less than 10 km.”

The number of sightings of Russian UAVs near the site has recently increased drastically, the energy company notes according to Ukrainska Pravda.

It comes after a Russian drone was spotted flying at a dangerously low height near the Rivne nuclear power plant in late September.

Russia has continued striking Ukraine’s energy systems, prompting the Nato secretary general to warn that Ukraine faces its toughest winter yet.

Guided bombs sent by Russia have killed two people and injured at least three others in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

Russian forces fired at least four guided bombs at the city, according to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov on Telegram.

Moscow’s targeting of Ukraine’s critical energy infrastructure may leave the country facing its toughest winter yet, Nato secretary general Mark Rutte said on Tuesday.

“NATO must and will do more to help Ukraine. The more military support we give, the faster this war will end,” he told reporters in a joint news conference with Finnish president Alexander Stubb.

British intelligence is facing a “hell of a job” over rising threats from Iran and Russia, as well as the resurgence of Isis and Al-Qaeda, the head of MI5 has warned.

A day after Sir Keir Starmer called on the international community to focus on the “malign” regime in Iran, which supports proxies across the Middle East including Hamas and Hezbollah, Ken McCallum said British intelligence has thwarted 20 Tehran-backed plots that “presented potentially lethal threats to British citizens” since the start of 2022.

The Independent’s Tom Watling reports: