Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 11-02-2024

As North Korean support to Russia increases, I increasingly must write and edit pieces about that “closed off” nation but I knew next to nothing about it – now is the time to remedy that situation.

As a writer and editor for the Kyiv Post I sometimes suffer from “imposter syndrome” when being asked to deal with subjects I know little or nothing about. The recent appearance of North Korea on the media landscape, because of its growing participation in Russia’s war, made me aware of the gap in my knowledge of Korea; both north and south.

As I normally do when I am asked to write on subjects where my knowledge is sketchy, I consulted my good friend George Oogle to fill in the gaps. Sadly, most available information is Western biased and heavily focused on the politics of the country and the malign influence of the ruling Kim dynasty. I have done my best to sort through the weeds – some of what I found out was mind blowing – so, I’ve decided to share some of it with you.

Watch in the last part of this TVP World program some thoughts by Kyiv Post's Chief Editor Bohdan Nahaylo on the latest developments pertaining to Ukraine.

A challenging winter awaits Ukraine due to limited air defense and increased cooperation between Russia and its allies. What is Ukraine doing about it?

During the winter of 2022-2023, almost 1,000 missiles targeted Ukraine’s energy facilities – only a handful were intercepted by Ukrainian air defenses.

But due to Russia’s relatively limited strikes on Ukraine’s energy sector, Ukraine survived last winter better than the previous one. During last winter, with their missile supply and production capabilities being inferior compared to a year prior, Moscow targeted military facilities more than energy facilities.

Europe should stop deluding itself into thinking that Beijing – whose ties with Moscow run deep – can realistically bring peace to Ukraine.

China – Russia’s closest strategic partner and the greatest challenger to US global primacy – cannot, and will not, influence Moscow to make peace with Ukraine. The shared China-Russia hostility to America’s global primacy, and the fact that both countries find one another useful in several ways, rules out China playing the peace broker.

This needs to be realized by western European leaders who continue to delude themselves that Beijing could persuade Moscow to end its bestial war with its neighbor. This includes the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, along with France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Finland, among others. Finland’s President Alexander Stubb has even declared that a phone call from President Xi Jinping to Russian President Vladimir Putin is all that is necessary to end the war in Ukraine.

Moldova's moment of truth approaches.

Moldova's pro-Brussels leader Maia Sandu is in a tough fight in Sunday's presidential election with a challenger who wants closer ties with Moscow only two weeks after she won an EU membership referendum by a razor-thin margin.

With Georgia reeling from a disputed election which returned its Moscow-friendly ruling party to power, all eyes are now on Moldova, which borders war-torn Ukraine.

A peace agreement that makes territorial concessions contingent on NATO membership for Ukraine would draw a bright red line that would ensure safety for over 80% of Ukraine, the author writes.

Putin’s Russia Will Continue to be a Post-Ukraine-War Threat If We Let It: It’s a truism that all wars must end, and Russia’s campaign against Ukraine is no exception. Under a personalist regime run by Vladimir Putin for almost a quarter century, Russia is particularly difficult to assess or predict, for it is not an ordinary state, and certainly not in a positive sense. 

Currently, Putin, physically a small man, has a giant international footprint. Similarly, Russia is a remnant of a failed superpower, with a uni-dimensional energy-based economy that in nominal terms is only about the size of Italy’s, yet exercises outsize international influence. 

A US-Ukrainian, New York attorney, and Ukrainian diaspora activist, lists the reasons why in his view Trump should be defeated in the forthcoming presidential election.

And so the elections are upon us. Some twenty million have already voted in early voting and mail in ballot. The deciding vote will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Polls indicate that the vote will be close.

Several facts are indisputable. Candidate Donald J. Trump has made fascist, racist, and authoritarian remarks. Many of his statements have proven to be lies. This has not been surprising as his educational level is a bachelor’s degree in real estate and he admits that he does not read anything of substance. His character is that of a narcissist with no regard for the truth. His mentor Roy Cohn, a notorious lawyer-liar who was disbarred, taught him to deny and attack. That is his modus operandi.

Operator Starsky, the well-known Ukrainian veteran, reservist, blogger, and co-founder of the Propaganda Study Institute, says that Russia is anxious to prove to others that it is a global leader.

The Challenges business magazine says the company will deliver its first kamikaze drones to Ukraine via France’s DGA in the next few days.

According to “Challenges,” France’s Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) placed an order in 2023 with the Toulouse-based SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) Delair for 2,000 kamikaze drones. The drones were intended for use by both the French and Ukrainian defense forces and followed a competitive tender process involving a total of 19 producers.

The requirement called for a drone with a minimum endurance of 30 minutes, a range of 5 kilometers (3 miles), at a unit cost below €20,000 ($22,000).

On Tuesday, the US will choose its president for the next four years: Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. Europe's media draw their conclusions

Two opposing visions to choose from

Austria’s Die Presse sees two completely different world views:

A video said to be of a badly wounded North Korean soldier, the sole survivor of a 40-man unit that was obliterated in Kursk has appeared in social and mainstream media.

On Thursday, the pro-Ukrainian Telegram channel 'ExileNova' released a two-minute video titled “Warning from Kursk.” The video shows what is said to be an unnamed, badly wounded North Korean soldier who says he was the only survivor of a 40-man unit that was decimated by a Ukrainian artillery and drone attack in the Kursk region of Russia.

The footage shows the man, lying in a hospital bed his head and face wrapped in bandages that appear to be soaked soaked with blood and pus and a nasal catheter held in place with another dressing.

Ukrainians Fear the Worse if Trump Wins.

Ukrainians are nervously following the final days of the US presidential election campaign, some fearing a victory for Donald Trump could halt Washington's vital aid.

Tuesday's US vote will take place as the war with Russia grinds through its third year, with the outnumbered and outgunned Ukrainian army on the back foot against Russia's advancing troops.

Ten percent down installment plans are no way to fight let alone win wars and yet that is exactly what the Biden administration has been doing to Ukraine.

Wars are not fought let alone won on an installment plan. And if you only put 10 percent down, you certainly will pay a higher price later.

Yet, that is exactly what the Biden-Harris administration has been doing to Ukraine. To date, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have only received 10% of the military aid approved by Congress in April.

Police Colonel Andry Matvienko, aged 43, was fatally wounded by shrapnel in the attack.

Russian forces targeted Kharkiv with S-400 missiles on Friday, Nov. 1, striking a police station and causing numerous casualties, according to local authorities.

Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.

• Around 10,000 Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) combat troops are in Russia. It is almost certain some have already deployed to the Kursk region.
• Russia and DPRK have committed to deepening their bilateral partnership with the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty, which includes a mutual defence clause, and was ratified by the Russian State Duma on 24 October 2024. For Russia, DPRK's military support to their war in Ukraine has highly likely been the core driver for the partnership and has until now, centred around North Korea's provision of arms. In return, DPRK has received high level international support from Russia and has secured a trading partner willing to break sanctions.
• Russian and DPRK forces would almost certainly experience interoperability difficulties having not previously carried out joint military exercises. DRK troops conducting combat operations would almost certainly have issues operating Russian equipment, integrating into Russia's command and control structure, and working around the language barrier with Russian forces.

Russia’s air assault on Kyiv has continued since early morning, with ongoing explosions and air defense operations across the city at the time of publication.

Russian forces launched a large-scale drone attack on Kyiv early this morning, setting the upper floors of a 16-story building on fire and causing multiple injuries, according to local authorities.

Kyiv Post correspondents across the city report hearing loud explosions, likely from anti-aircraft defenses, and the distinctive buzzing of Shahed drones resembling a motorcycle engine.

A Latvian taxi driver was sentenced to seven years in prison on Thursday for spying on behalf of Russian intelligence and planning acts of sabotage in Riga.

Latvian security services revealed that Sergejs Sidorovs, a taxi driver who had been recruited through the “Baltic Anti-Fascists” Telegram channel through which he passed photographs and information relating to Latvian and NATO military activity.

According to the Latvian news agency LETA, Sidorovs passed reports on NATO operational and logistic activity around Riga while transporting military personnel from the airport to bases around the capital during 2023.

Russian milbloggers and other sources reported that the Russian Sukhoi Su-34 fighter bomber came down under unexplained circumstances early on Friday morning.

Sources close to the Russia’s Aerospace Forces, including Ilya Tumanov, the notorious Fighterbomber milblogger, signaled the loss of the Su-34 fighter bomber in an unidentified area of the battlefield. Messages such as “Eternal memory, brothers!” and “Let’s Live!” suggest that the aircraft’s two-man crew did not survive the incident. Several of the sites posted photos of a black painted Su-34 which they said was the actual aircraft that had gone down.

Just as after the loss of another Su-34 in similar circumstances on Oct. 12, the finger of suspicion was immediately pointed at the Ukrainian F-16. With reports suggesting that Ukraine is increasingly deploying the US designed fighters, they are rapidly becoming the bogey man of first choice for several pro-Kremlin social media sites. Many analysts, including Kyiv Post’s senior military correspondent, treated the earlier claims with some skepticism.