Counter-offensive proceeding as planned, Ukraine says

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Russia’s foreign ministry said on Thursday, as the two countries forge closer ties in the face of what they see as a hostile and aggressive US-led Western camp.

Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported that Mr Lavrov’s meeting with Kim had lasted over an hour but the ministry did not provide further details.

Lavrov’s visit is seen as setting the stage for a visit by President Vladimir Putin, who has stepped up cooperation with politically isolated North Korea.

Ukraine’s amphibious assault brigade, pictured, may soon be called into action in the Zaporizhzhia oblast CREDIT: Yevhen Titov/Anadolu

Ukrainian forces have crossed the Dnipro river and established a position on the opposite bank as they push into Russian-occupied territory in southern Ukraine, according to Russian sources.

Pro-Kremlin military bloggers said Kyiv’s troops had created a bridgehead, captured the town of Poima, and were pushing north towards the nearby town of Pishchanivka.

The two towns are south of a destroyed railway bridge and upriver from the Antonivka road crossing, meaning the Ukrainians have to make dangerous, amphibious crossings.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised the “unprecedented” energy cooperation between Moscow and Beijing, as the Kremlin seeks to strengthen its Asian partnerships to make up for the loss of the European market.

Russia has been hit by massive Western sanctions over its Ukraine offensive, with Europe trying to end its energy links with Moscow.

Putin wrapped up a two-day visit to China on Thursday, his first outside the former Soviet Union this year.

“Relations in the overall partnership and strategic cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Chinese People’s Republic have reached an unprecedented high level and continue to develop dynamically,” Putin said in a statement addressing a Russian-Chinese energy forum in Beijing.

“One of the key areas of this relationship is energy cooperation, which is becoming increasingly active,” he added.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the European Union must jointly continue to financially support Ukraine in future, but the use of additional funds was not a solution long term.

“We have a clear stance here: This aid for Ukraine, for the financial stability of the country, we will have to provide this jointly as Europeans,” Mr Scholz said, while adding “that this cannot all be solved with additional funds”.

He also criticised Russian President Vladimir Putin over his warnings of civilian casualties in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

“I am more than outraged when hearing that the Russian president is warning everywhere that there could be victims, civilian victims of military confrontations. It really doesn’t get any more cynical than that,” Mr Scholz said in a speech to the German parliament.

A Russian-American journalist working for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has been detained in Russia and charged with failing to register as a foreign agent, her employer and a journalist watchdog group has said.

Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor with the US Congress-funded outlet’s Tatar-Bashkir service, “needs to be released so she can return to her family immediately,” RFE/RL acting president Jeffrey Gedmin said in a statement.

“Alsu is a highly respected colleague, devoted wife, and dedicated mother to two children,” Mr Gedmin said.

She is the second US journalist to be held by Russia in recent months. Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, has been detained since March, accused of spying.

Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesperson for southern troops, said shelling had eased around the town of Avdiivka.

Mr Shtupun said troops in the sector were preparing for a variety of scenarios.

The attack on the eastern Ukrainian town is one of the few big assaults Russia has mounted since Ukrainian forces launched a counteroffensive in early June to try to drive out Russian troops occupying large swathes of territory in the east and south.

The town was the focus of fierce Russian attacks in the past week. 

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Two people died and one was injured when a Russian missile hit an eatery in Ukraine’s southern Mykolaiv region late Wednesday, Ukrainian authorities said.

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said the missile had struck a “food establishment” in a residential area in the region at 8:30 pm (1730 GMT).

“Two people died and one person was injured under the rubble,” it said on Telegram.

“As a result of the impact, residential buildings and an agricultural enterprise were also damaged,” it added.

The governor of Mykolaiv, Vitaliy Kim, wrote earlier on the messaging app that the missile had struck in Stepove, a small village located around 28 miles northwest of the city of Mykolaiv.

Relations between Russia and North Korea have reached a “qualitatively new, strategic” level, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said.

Mr Lavrov arrived Wednesday night for a two-day visit after accompanying President Vladimir Putin on a trip to Beijing.

His meetings in Pyongyang are expected to lay the groundwork for a future visit by Putin, who was invited by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last month at a high-profile summit in Russia’s far east.

“After the landmark summit … we can say confidently that (Russia-North Korea) relations have reached a qualitatively new, strategic level,” Lavrov reportedly told North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui at a Thursday meeting.

The night before, he touted North Korea’s support for Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine after arriving in Pyongyang.

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