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

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”.

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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.

A Russian missile attack has damaged two civilian vessels, killed one person and injured at least eight, Ukrainian authorities said.

The attack on Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa also damaged a grain storage, according to Reuters.

Deputy prime minister Oleksiy Kuleba announced on Telegram that Palau-flagged bulk carrier Optima and Belize-flagged NS Moon were both damaged in the strike.

Two of the injured people were left in a serious condition, according to regional governor Oleh Kiper.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has refuted the claim by a German intelligence official that Russian forces “should be in a position to launch an attack on NATO by the end of this decade at the latest”.

Peskov said on Monday that it was actually NATO who threatened Russia, referring to multiple rounds of NATO expansion.

Russia has accused NATO of fuelling tensions with their annual nuclear exercise in light of the “hot war” raging on in Ukraine.

The western military alliance kicked off the drills on Monday, which will include 2,000 troops and 60 aircraft from eight bases, the Kyiv Independent reported.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Monday it would not be possible to hold nuclear arms talks with the US, due to what it describes as direct and indirect involvement in Ukraine from western powers.

“In the conditions of a hot war, which is being waged within the framework of the Ukrainian conflict, of course, such exercises lead to nothing but further escalation of tension,” Peskov said according to Breaking The News.

Joe Biden said recently that he is ready to negotiate with Russia, China and North Korea on nuclear issues “without preconditions”.

For the first time in 48 days, Russia did not launch any Shahed drone attacks at Ukraine overnight from Sunday going into Monday.

The Ukrainian Air Force did not comment on why there was a sudden lull in drone attacks from the Russians, who launched 1,300 Shahed kamikaze drones in September according to the Kyiv Independent.

Yurii Ihnat, acting Head of the Communications Department of the Air Force Command, said earlier this month that Russian forces were increasingly using drones of an unspecified type, which have been frequently downed by Ukrainian electronic warfare systems.