Putin ‘rehearses massive nuclear strike’ – latest on Ukraine war

South Korea, Japan and the US have strongly condemned the supply of arms and military equipment by North Korea to Russia, saying they have confirmed “several” deliveries.

“The Republic of Korea, United States, and Japan strongly condemn the provision of military equipment and munitions by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to the Russian Federation for use against the government and people of Ukraine,” the statement issued by foreign ministers of the three countries said.

“Such weapons deliveries, several of which we now confirm have been completed, will significantly increase the human toll of Russia’s war of aggression.”

Researchers at University College Cork (UCC) have conducted a study which is the first of its kind to find evidence of online conspiracy theories which incorporate deepfakes. ‘Deepfakes’ are artificially manipulated audio-visual material.

The Russia-Ukraine war presented as the first real-life example of deepfakes being used in warfare.

The researchers highlight examples of deepfake videos during this war including the use of video game footage as evidence of the urban myth fighter pilot “The Ghost of Kyiv”, and a deepfake of Russian president Vladimir Putin, showing the Russian president announcing peace with Ukraine.

The study found deepfakes often undermined users’ trust in the footage they were receiving from the conflict to the point where they lost trust in any footage viewed.

As well as the threat coming from the fake content itself, researchers found genuine media contact was being labelled as deepfakes.

The Kyiv Post has reported that Russian troop losses are at an all-time high according to a new report on Wednesday.

Neither Russia nor Ukraine publishes full information on casualties and deaths following military actions.

The publication reported: “Ragnar Gudmundsson, an Iceland-based analyst tracking losses of personnel and equipment on both sides of the Russo-Ukraine War since the early days of Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion, in a Wednesday situation update reported Russian service personnel dead hit a probable wartime record of more than 1,400 killed in combat in a single day on 20th October, and have averaged 900 men a day killed in combat from 10-20 October, a time window coinciding almost exactly with the launch of major Russian army attacks in the Avdiivka sector.”

Mike Johnson, a staunch conservative from Louisiana has been unanimously elected House speaker with broad GOP support on Wednesday. The more conservative but lesser known congressman who has backing from Donald Trump, initially supported Ukraine, sharing his support on X, formerly known as Twitter.

However, in May last year he was one of only 57 members of the House to vote against $40 billion of aid to Ukraine.

He released a statement saying: “‘We should not be sending another $40 billion abroad when our own border is in chaos, American mothers are struggling to find baby formula, gas prices are at record highs, and American families are struggling to make ends meet, without sufficient oversight over where the money will go.”

Since the statement, he has consistently voted against aid to Ukraine.

Ukrainian Governor Oleksandr Prokudin has reported that a Russian stirke on Kherson Oblast’s town of Beryslav on Wednesday killed a 13 year old boy.

On his Telegram channel he wrote: “In the evening, the occupiers opened fire against a residential building in the city, as a result of the strike, a 13-year-old boy died.”

Governor Prokudin did not provide further details on potential damage caused by the attack or on the weaponry used by Russian forces.

The Ukrainian Special Operations Forces (SSO) report they have inflicted over $25 million damage to Russian equipment in one week. In a message on their Telegram channel, they reported the destruction of heavy equipment including the Zoopark-1 surveillance and fire control radar complex, a prized possession for Russians.

Other equipment included a critical battlefield artillery fire coordination complex that directed Russian artillery and taregetd locations of Ukrainian surface-to-surface and surface-to-air fire.

A spokesperson from Ukrainian intelligence told Bloomberg that a “Siberian battalion” was being made up of entirely Russian citizens in support of Ukraine.

Andriy Yusov, a representative of the Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) said Yusov said it was only the beginning and Ukraine would continue to recruit Russian citizens to similar battalions.

On Wednesday the Welsh parliament recognised the 1932-1933 famine as a genocide against the Ukrainian people under Stalin and the Soviet government.

The Embassy of Ukraine said on X, formerly known as Twitter: “We are grateful to the Senedd for recognizing the 1932–1933 Holodomor in Ukraine as genocide committed against Ukrainians. It’s a significant milestone in restoring historical justice and raising awareness about the millions of innocent victims”

The University of Minnesota says between 3.5 million and 7 million Ukrainians died during the genocide.

Speaking in Doha to Sky News, the Foreign Minister of Qatar, Abdulrahman al-Thani, questioned why the cutting off of food and water in Ukraine was seen as a war crime but not in Gaza.

“The children being killed in this war is exceeding the number killed in the other war between Ukraine and Russia, and yet we haven’t seen the same reaction.”

Russian military have reported they shot down two US-made missiles in a “special military operation. The ATACMS long-range missiles were given to Ukraine by the US with Russia stating it was the first downing of its kind.

Reuters were unable to confirm the incident and there has been no response from Kyiv or Washington. Last week, Ukraine reported success using the missiles inflicting heavy damage on two Russian airfields.

President Vladmir Putin said that the US was making a mistake by entering deeper into their conflict with Ukraine and said that the ATACMS missiles would not change the battlefield situation.