Latest news with #GeneralStaff
Boston Globe
2 hours ago
- Business
- Boston Globe
North Korea gets a weapons bonanza from Russia
Advertisement In return, Moscow has revived a Cold War-era treaty of mutual defense and cooperation with Pyongyang, supplying North Korea not only with fuel and food, but also with materials and technologies to modernize its military, according to South Korean officials and analysts. They warn that the growing expansion of military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, if left unchecked, could threaten a delicate military balance around the Korean Peninsula. The disintegration of the old Soviet bloc, and the subsequent collapse of North Korea's economy, created a yawning gap between North and South Korea in their conventional weapons abilities. To counter that, North Korea in recent decades dedicated its limited resources to developing nuclear warheads and their delivery missiles. Still, the North's conventional weaponry remained many years behind that of South Korea and the United States, which keeps 28,500 troops in the South. Advertisement Russia's war against Ukraine has brought Kim a military bonanza. It gave North Korea opportunities to test its weapons and troops and to gain valuable insights into modern warfare. Its conventional weapons industry has entered a renaissance, thanks to Russia's insatiable demand for its artillery shells and missiles and the military technology flowing the other way, South Korean analysts said. Kim now has greater ability to destabilize the East Asia region and more leverage should he sit down again with President Donald Trump or China's leader, Xi Jinping, they said. 'North Korea appears to be entering a strategic golden age,' said Yang Uk, an expert on the North Korean military at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul. The alliance has benefited President Vladimir Putin of Russia, too. For months, Russian officials concealed the fact that North Korean troops were taking part in efforts to push Ukrainians out of the Kursk region, in western Russia. It was only at the end of April, when most of the Ukrainian-occupied area had been liberated, that the head of the Russian General Staff said during a public meeting with Putin that North Korean troops 'provided significant assistance' to the Russian army there. Perhaps more valuably, North Korea sent millions of artillery rounds, as well as many missiles, to Russia. South Korean officials said that North Korea was also cooperating with Russia to build drones for both nations. Russia's resurgence in the war has given Putin a stronger hand in any potential peace negotiations with Ukraine, and with Trump. The courtship between Kim and Putin deepened when they met in Russia's Far East in September 2023. Kim was shown around a Russian space-launch station, an aircraft manufacturing factory, and air force and naval bases, compiling what South Korean analysts called a 'bucket list' of Russian technologies he wanted to get his hands on. Advertisement Last June, Kim invited Putin to Pyongyang, the North's capital, to sign an alliance treaty. Soon, North Korean troops began streaming into Russia, numbering up to 15,000 in all, according to South Korean intelligence officials North Korean troops took part in recapturing two villages in the Kursk region, said Dmitri Kuznets, an analyst with the news outlet Meduza, which was outlawed by the Kremlin and operates from Latvia. But the true extent of the troops' contributions has been debated. Valery Shiryaev, an independent Russian military analyst, said in a post on Telegram, a popular messaging app, that the participation of Koreans in real battles was Kim's idea, so that he could test his army. 'All of them are getting an incredible experience now and will come back as real veterans,' Shiryaev said. 'There are no such people in the South Korean army, which undoubtedly fills Kim Jong Un with pride.' Analysts in South Korea and other Western powers have been tallying Kim's hardware gains. They have monitored aircraft and ships carrying what appeared to be Russian military technologies to North Korea. Kim's prioritizing of drones alone would help significantly narrow the gap with South Korea in conventional weapons, analysts said. In April, Kim and his daughter, Kim Ju Ae, widely believed to be his heir, attended the launching of the North's first naval destroyer, the Choe Hyon. He later watched the ship test-fire various missiles. One of them was called a supersonic cruise missile by North Korea, and it resembled the nuclear-capable Russian cruise missile 3M22 Zircon, said Hong Min, a military expert at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul. Advertisement While launching the destroyer, Kim Jong Un reconfirmed that he was also building a nuclear-powered submarine. Multiple UN Security Council resolutions ban arms trading with North Korea. But military cooperation with Russia 'has proved a perfect route for the North to evade sanctions and overcome its technological limits,' said a report from the Institute for National Security Strategy in Seoul. There remains doubt over how much sensitive technology Russia is willing to share with North Korea. North Korea has repeatedly failed to launch military spy satellites. And to build a nuclear-powered submarine, the country would need a small nuclear reactor. Such a submarine, which would vastly improve its ability to cross the Pacific and launch a nuclear attack on the US mainland, was so politically risky that Moscow would be 'very, very cautious,' said Doo Jin-ho, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses in Seoul. But the mere threat it could happen gives Kim more leverage, and North Korean state media has shown part of what it said was a nuclear-powered submarine under construction. 'It's the most dangerous weapon North Korea has unveiled so far,' said Hong, of the Korea Institute for National Unification. This article originally appeared in
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
A Russian oil company says it paid out a $195,000 bounty to soldiers it credited with downing an F-16 fighter jet in Ukraine
A Russian company said it paid 12 soldiers a combined $195,000 for shooting down an F-16 jet. Fores said it presented the soldiers the cash at a ceremony near the Russia-Ukraine border on Thursday. Kyiv had long coveted the US-made F-16. It received its first of the jets in 2024. A Russian oil company said it had awarded a total of 15 million rubles (around $195,000) to Russian soldiers who it credited with downing the first US-made F-16 fighter jet in Ukraine. In a press release, Fores, a fracking parts manufacturer, said it had presented 12 servicemen with the cash at a ceremony near the Russia-Ukraine border on Thursday. "Fores fulfilled its earlier promise and paid 15 million rubles to Russian servicemen for destroying the first F-16 fighter jet in the special operation zone," the company said. The firm announced the bounty system in 2023, promising cash rewards for soldiers who destroyed certain Western-supplied military equipment. The company said it had so far paid out just over 52 million rubles (around $670,000) for the destruction of the F-16 and an unspecified number of Leopard 2 and Abrams tanks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had long coveted the F-16 as he sought to bolster Ukraine's air defenses, and Kyiv received its first delivery of the jet in the summer of 2024. Ukraine's forces have so far lost at least three F-16s in combat, with the General Staff confirming the first loss in August last year. The F-16 has nevertheless seemingly proved a hit over the battlefield. Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli, the US's top general in Europe, told a Senate Armed Services Committee in April that F-16s were flying "every day" in Ukraine and that they had been successful in both air defense and offensive operations. "They've defeated a large number of cruise missile threats, and they've delivered an awful lot of offensive attacks as well," he said, adding: "Specifically, bombing attacks in the east." Read the original article on Business Insider
Business Insider
7 hours ago
- Business
- Business Insider
A Russian oil company says it paid out a $195,000 bounty to soldiers it credited with downing an F-16 fighter jet in Ukraine
A Russian oil company said it had awarded a total of 15 million rubles (around $195,000) to Russian soldiers who it credited with downing the first US-made F-16 fighter jet in Ukraine. In a press release, Fores, a fracking parts manufacturer, said it had presented 12 servicemen with the cash at a ceremony near the Russia-Ukraine border on Thursday. "Fores fulfilled its earlier promise and paid 15 million rubles to Russian servicemen for destroying the first F-16 fighter jet in the special operation zone," the company said. The firm announced the bounty system in 2023, promising cash rewards for soldiers who destroyed certain Western-supplied military equipment. The company said it had so far paid out just over 52 million rubles (around $670,000) for the destruction of the F-16 and an unspecified number of Leopard 2 and Abrams tanks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had long coveted the F-16 as he sought to bolster Ukraine's air defenses, and Kyiv received its first delivery of the jet in the summer of 2024. Ukraine's forces have so far lost at least three F-16s in combat, with the General Staff confirming the first loss in August last year. The F-16 has nevertheless seemingly proved a hit over the battlefield. Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli, the US's top general in Europe, told a Senate Armed Services Committee in April that F-16s were flying "every day" in Ukraine and that they had been successful in both air defense and offensive operations. "They've defeated a large number of cruise missile threats, and they've delivered an awful lot of offensive attacks as well," he said, adding: "Specifically, bombing attacks in the east."
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
General Staff: Russia has lost 987,330 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022
Russia has lost around 987,330 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on May 31. The number includes 1,250 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day. According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,867 tanks, 22,652 armored fighting vehicles, 50,198 vehicles and fuel tanks, 28,475 artillery systems, 1,400 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,173 air defense systems, 372 airplanes, 336 helicopters, 38,215 drones, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine. Read also: Trump 'very surprised, disappointed' at Russian attacks on Ukraine amid peace talks We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Russia loses 1,140 soldiers and 35 artillery systems over past day
Russia has lost 1,140 soldiers killed and wounded as well as 185 weapons and pieces of military equipment over the past day. Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook Details: The total combat losses of the Russian forces between 24 February 2022 and 30 May 2025 are estimated to be as follows [figures in parentheses represent the latest losses – ed.]: approximately 986,080 (+1,140) military personnel; 10,865 (+1) tanks; 22,647 (+2) armoured combat vehicles; 28,421 (+35) artillery systems; 1,398 (+1) multiple-launch rocket systems; 1,172 (+1) air defence systems; 372 (+0) fixed-wing aircraft; 336 (+0) helicopters; 38,070 (+71) tactical and strategic UAVs; 3,265 (+0) cruise missiles; 28 (+0) ships/boats; 1 (+0) submarine; 50,089 (+74) vehicles and fuel tankers; 3,902 (+0) special vehicles and other equipment. The information is being confirmed. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
