Ukraine-Russia latest: Brazil urged to arrest Putin as Zelensky issues new North Korea warning

Ukrainian soldiers crossed into Russia’s Kursk region two days before Kyiv launched a larger operation across the border, a commander has said.

The cross-border incursion into Kursk was launched on August 6, claiming to have seized 1,300 square kilometres (500 square miles).

But it has recently come under increasing pressure as Russia has brought in reinforcements.

Pavlo Rozlach, commander of Ukraine’s 80th Air Assault Brigade, said in an interview on Sunday that one company of the brigade sneaked into Kursk in groups of six and hid in the forest.

Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces helped them to cross the border, before the company attacked a Russian stronghold near the border and paved the way for the entry of Ukrainian vehicles.

Ukrainian soldiers crossed into Russia’s Kursk region two days before Kyiv launched a larger operation across the border, a commander has said.

The cross-border incursion into Kursk was launched on August 6, claiming to have seized 1,300 square kilometres (500 square miles).

But it has recently come under increasing pressure as Russia has brought in reinforcements.

Pavlo Rozlach, commander of Ukraine’s 80th Air Assault Brigade, said in an interview on Sunday that one company of the brigade sneaked into Kursk in groups of six and hid in the forest.

Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces helped them to cross the border, before the company attacked a Russian stronghold near the border and paved the way for the entry of Ukrainian vehicles.

Ukraine witnessed a night free from drone or missile attacks on its territory for the first time in 48 days, officials said.

Colonel Yuriy Ihnat, the Ukrainian air force communications official, said Russian forces did not conduct missile or drone strikes against Ukraine on Monday night (from 13 to 14 October), marking the first such night in nearly seven weeks.

The last night free from any Russian air raids was on 29 August.

It came a few days after Ukraine said it had struck a storage facility in Russia that housed as many as 400 drones.

At least one person was killed and 11 were injured in Russia’s air attack on southern Ukraine’s Mykolaiv, officials said.

“Some of the injured are in serious condition. Unfortunately, there is one dead,” Vitaliy Kim, the governor of Mykolaiv, said on Telegram.

The region has remained under air raid alert for the past eight hours, according to Mr Kim’s alerts on Telegram.

Vladimir Putin may head to Brazil next month, where he should be arrested for the warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, Ukraine’s top prosecutor has said.

Ukrainian prosecutor general Andrii Kostin said: “Due to information that Putin may attend the G20 summit in Brazil I would like to reiterate that it’s an obligation for the Brazilian authorities as a state party of the Rome Statute to arrest him if he dares to visit.”

The ICC in the Hague issued an arrest warrant for the Russian president in March last year, accusing him of a war crime involving deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.

“I truly hope that Brazil will arrest him, reaffirming its status as a democracy and a state governed by the rule of law,” the Ukrainian official said. “A failure to do so risks setting a precedent under which leaders accused of crimes can travel with impunity,” he said.

The EU agreed on Monday to impose sanctions on Iranian-linked people and organisations for their material support for Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Iran Air has been sanctioned for its links to Iranian transfers of ballistic missiles to Russia, Reuters reported.

Saha Airlines, Mahan Air and Iran’s deputy defence minister Seyed Hamzeh Ghalandari were also on the sanctions list.

US officials said last month that Russia had received ballistic missiles for its war in Ukraine. Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said no such transfer had taken place since his government took office in August.

Officials of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard and managing directors of Aerospace Industries Organization and Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industries were also sanctioned.

The sanctions include asset freezes and a travel ban to the EU.

Russia is looking to involve North Korea directly in its invasion of Ukraine, president Volodymyr Zelensky said, citing Ukrainian intelligence.

“Among the most important was the report of the intelligence services – the Foreign Intelligence Service and the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine – on the intentions of the Russians for the fall and winter. Everything was quite detailed. The actual involvement of North Korea in the war,” Mr Zelensky said in his evening address.

He added that the war is being prolonged by Russia’s relations with some other countries, but did not directly name Moscow’s allies.

This comes a day after the Ukrainian leader warned of an “increasing alliance” between Moscow and Pyongyang stating that North Korea was sending personnel to the frontline as well as its weapons.

“This is no longer just about transferring weapons. It is actually about transferring people from North Korea to the occupying military forces,” he said.

A Ukrainian refugee says she is living in a “surreal nightmare” after she was refused permission to bring her two children to the UK.

Pressure is mounting on ministers to open a family reunion pathway for Ukrainians with temporary immigration status, after the rules were changed without warning in February. Charities say that the Home Office’s “restrictive rules and poor decision-making” are “tearing families apart”.

Read Andy Gregory’s exclusive report here:

Russia’s Defence Ministry says its forces have taken control of the village of Levadne, around 125 kilometres west of the eastern city of Donetsk, Russian state-owned news agency Interfax reported on Monday.

The village, in the region of Zaporizhzhia, was captured early on in the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, before it was retaken by Ukrainien forces during the 2023 summer counteroffensive.

The battlefield report has not been independently verified.

Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, an envoy to Ukraine of Pope Francis, arrived in Moscow on Monday according to the RIA state news agency.

RIA cited a source in the Holy See as saying a visit is possible between Zuppi and Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and a close ally of the Kremlin.

Zuppi last visited Moscow in June 2023.