Ukraine war briefing: US-supplied glide bombs struggle against Russian jamming | Ukraine

Russian jamming has kept many of Ukraine’s relatively new long-range GLSDB bombs from hitting their intended targets, three people familiar with the problem have told Reuters. The Boeing and Saab-made ground-launched small diameter bomb has a 161km range. It launches with a rocket motor and then wings pop out to extend its range. But its guidance system has been targeted by Russian jamming that its makers are struggling to counteract.

South Korea and Japan on Friday announced sanctions on individuals, organisations and ships over the weapons trade between North Korea to Russia. The South Korean foreign ministry said ships were transporting military supplies from North Korea to Russia in a clear violation of UN security council resolutions. The US and South Korea have accused North Korea of transferring weapons to Russia to use against Ukraine. Both regimes have denied it, but UN investigators have told the security council that debris from North Korean bombs has been found in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s first group of F-16 pilots have finished their training in the US, according to Politico. The pilots would head to Europe for further training, Politico reported, citing operational security for the lack of further details. European allies of Ukraine have pledged dozens of the fighter jets.

Russian missiles killed at least seven civilians in Kharkiv on Thursday, officials said. At least 20 people were wounded as S-300 missiles struck, said the regional governor, Oleh Syniehubov. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, called the attack “extremely cruel” and expressed renewed frustration at not getting enough air defence systems from western allies.

Russian missiles struck the town centre in Liubotyn, about 10km (6 miles) west of the city of Kharkiv, wounding eight civilians. In Derhachi, another nearby town, 13 people were wounded in another aerial strike, authorities said.

Russian troops have made incursions in the northern Sumy region where nearly 1,500 people, including 200 children, have been evacuated from the towns of Bilopillia and Vorozhba, according to the regional governor, Volodymyr Artiukh.

In the US, the House foreign affairs chairman, Michael McCaul, has told Joe Biden’s secretary of state, Antony Blinken, during a congressional hearing that the Biden administration needs to lift the ban on Ukraine’s military firing US-supplied weapons across the border into Russia, from where attacks on Ukraine are launched. “They cannot achieve victory with the restrictions you placed on them,” McCaul said.