Ukraine-Russia war latest: Blasts heard in Kyiv as Seoul says more than 10,000 North Koreans now in Russia

Debris from destroyed Russian drones sparked park and grass fires in Kyiv, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital said on Monday.

The drone wreckage caused a fire in the Muromets park in the Desnianskyi district in Kyiv’s northeast and set some grass ablaze on the embankment of the Dnipro River across from the park.

There was no immediate information about potential injuries.

The strikes followed Russian attacks on Sunday that damaged buildings and power lines in Kyiv.

Ukraine‘s military said on Monday it shot down 50 out of 80 Russian drones during overnight attack.

The air force said 27 more drones were “locationally lost” in various regions, likely referring to the impact of electronic warfare.

Last night three people were killed after a residential building in the Kupiansk district of Kharkiv was hit, regional police said on Monday.

Russian forces used an aerial bomb to carry out the attack, which damaged houses and a medical facility, the police said on the Telegram messenger app.

The EU’s chief has visited South Korea as concern grows over the dispatch of North Korean troops to Russia.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday that the reports signal the need for security cooperation between the European Union and South Korea.

The deployment “regrettably illustrates the importance of our shared security agenda,” he said before talks with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul in Seoul. The EU and South Korea are holding their first Strategic Dialogue meeting after Washington and Seoul sounded the alarm about North Korea sending troops to help Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated Moldova‘s Maia Sandu on her election win in a social media post on Monday.

“Moldovans have made a clear choice” they chose a path toward economic growth and social stability,” Zelensky wrote on X after pro-Western incumbent Sandu claimed victory at Sunday’s closely-fought presidential election.

Medics in Ukraine are being urged to remove any markings on their vehicles that may set them apart otherwise they’ll be shot at “within 15 minutes”, the Economist has reported.

Earlier this year, the World Health Organisation reported that ambulance workers and other personnel servicing health transport face a risk of injury and death three times higher than that of other healthcare service workers.

A secret underground hospital’s chief medical officer told the Economist: “They don’t even know what it means” when asked about Russia following the Geneva conventions, which forbid targeting medical units.

He said: “If you put a red cross on a car, you’ll be fired on within 15 minutes.”

Top South Korean and European Union officials have condemned North Korea’s reported troop dispatch to aid Russia’s war against Ukraine. In a meeting in Seoul on Monday, South Korean defense minister Kim Yong Hyun and the EU’s visiting foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, expressed “serious concerns” about North Korea’s reported troop dispatch and “strongly condemned” it, according to a statement from the South Korean defense ministry. The two agreed to work together with the international community to try to obstruct Russian-North Korean security cooperation, the statement said.

In a background briefing with local media on Monday, South Korea’s military said North Korea has built anti-tank, trench-like structures at two sites near the Korean border. According to US, South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence assessments, North Korea was estimated to have moved about 10,000-12,000 troops to Russia.

German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Kyiv and asserted her country’s continued backing for Ukraine, as the future of US aid hangs in the balance with the upcoming election.

Baerbock said Ukraine needs support to ensure its very survival as North Korea’s military involvement and Russian airstrikes on civilian infrastructure exacerbate the conflict.

She said: “We are countering this brutality with our humanity and support, so that Ukrainians can not only survive the winter, but so that their country can survive. Because they are also defending the freedom of all of us in Europe.”

Germany has emerged as Ukraine‘s top donor of military aid in Europe and has closely coordinated its support with Washington.

Russia’s defence ministry said its armed forces had downed four US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 42 Ukrainian drones in the last 24 hours on Monday, Reuters has reported.

The ministry said four different troop groupings were improving their positions, including the southern group which it said was making advances deep into Ukrainian defences.

Moldovan president Maia Sandu secured a second term in office in a pivotal presidential runoff election marred by accusations of Russian interference and electoral manipulation.

Her victory, with 55 per cent of the votes, was confirmed by Moldova’s Central Electoral Commission, leaving her opponent, former prosecutor general Alexandr Stoianoglo, with 45 per cent.

The re-election of the pro-European leader reinforces Moldova’s drive toward closer ties with the European Union.

Namita Singh reports.