Latest news with #SouthKoreanIntelligence
Yahoo
12-08-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
North Koreans tell BBC they are being sent to work 'like slaves' in Russia
Thousands of North Koreans are being sent to work in slave-like conditions in Russia to fill a huge labour shortage exacerbated by Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the BBC has learned. Moscow has repeatedly turned to Pyongyang to help it fight the war, using its missiles, artillery shells and its soldiers. Now, with many of Russia's men either killed or tied up fighting - or having fled the country - South Korean intelligence officials have told the BBC that Moscow is increasingly relying on North Korean labourers. We interviewed six North Korean workers who have fled Russia since the start of the war, along with government officials, researchers and those helping to rescue the labourers. They detailed how the men are subjected to "abysmal" working conditions, and how the North Korean authorities are tightening their control over the workers to stop them escaping. One of the workers, Jin, told the BBC that when he landed in Russia's Far East, he was chaperoned from the airport to a construction site by a North Korean security agent, who ordered him not to talk to anyone or look at anything. "The outside world is our enemy," the agent told him. He was put straight to work building high-rise apartment blocks for more than 18 hours a day, he said. All six workers we spoke to described the same punishing workdays – waking at 6am and being forced to build high-rise apartments until 2am the next morning, with just two days off a year. We have changed their names to protect them. "Waking up was terrifying, realising you had to repeat the same day over again," said another construction worker, Tae, who managed to escape Russia last year. Tae recalled how his hands would seize up in the morning, unable to open, paralysed from the previous day's work. "Some people would leave their post to sleep in the day, or fall asleep standing up, but the supervisors would find them and beat them. It was truly like we were dying," said another of the workers, Chan. "The conditions are truly abysmal," said Kang Dong-wan, a professor at South Korea's Dong-A University who has travelled to Russia multiple times to interview North Korean labourers. "The workers are exposed to very dangerous situations. At night the lights are turned out and they work in the dark, with little safety equipment." The escapees told us that the workers are confined to their construction sites day and night, where they are watched by agents from North Korea's state security department. They sleep in dirty, overcrowded shipping containers, infested with bugs, or on the floor of unfinished apartment blocks, with tarps pulled over the door frames to try to keep out the cold. One labourer, Nam, said he once fell four metres off his building site and "smashed up" his face, leaving him unable to work. Even then his supervisors would not let him leave the site to visit a hospital. In the past, tens of thousands of North Koreans worked in Russia earning millions of pounds a year for the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, and his cash-strapped regime. Then in 2019, the UN banned countries from using these workers in an attempt to cut off Kim's funds and stop him building nuclear weapons, meaning most were sent home. But last year more than 10,000 labourers were sent to Russia, according to a South Korean intelligence official speaking to the BBC on the condition of anonymity. They told us that even more were expected to arrive this year, with Pyongyang possibly dispatching more than 50,000 workers in total. The sudden influx means North Korean workers are now "everywhere in Russia," the official added. While most are working on large-scale construction projects, others have been assigned to clothing factories and IT centres, they said, in violation of the UN sanctions banning the use of North Korean labour. Russian government figures show that more than 13,000 North Koreans entered the country in 2024, a 12-fold increase from the previous year. Nearly 8,000 of them entered on student visas but, according to the intelligence official and experts, this is a tactic used by Russia to bypass the UN ban. In June, a senior Russian official, Sergei Shoigu, admitted for the first time that 5,000 North Koreans would be sent to rebuild Kursk, a Russian region seized by Ukrainian forces last year but who have since been pushed back. The South Korean official told us it was also "highly likely" some North Koreans would soon be deployed to work on reconstruction projects in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories. "Russia is suffering a severe labour shortage right now and North Koreans offer the perfect solution. They are cheap, hard-working and don't get into trouble," said Andrei Lankov, a professor at Kookmin University in Seoul and a renowned expert in North Korea-Russia relations. These overseas construction jobs are highly coveted in North Korea as they promise to pay better than the work at home. Most workers go hoping to escape poverty and be able to buy a house for their family or start a business when they return. Only the most trusted men are selected after being rigorously vetted, and they must leave their families behind. But the bulk of their earnings is sent straight to the North Korean state as "loyalty fees". The remaining fraction – usually between $100-200 (£74-£149) a month - is marked down on a ledger. The workers only receive this money when they return home – a recent tactic, experts say, to stop them running away. Once the men realise the reality of the harsh work and lack of pay, it can be shattering. Tae said he was "ashamed" when he learnt that other construction workers from central Asia were being paid five times more than him for a third of the work. "I felt like I was in a labour camp; a prison without bars," he said. The labourer Jin still bristles when he remembers how the other workers would call them slaves. "You are not men, just machines that can speak," they jeered. At one point, Jin's manager told him he might not receive any money when he returned to North Korea because the state needed it instead. It was then he decided to risk his life to escape. Tae made the decision to defect after watching YouTube videos showing how much workers in South Korea were paid. One night, he packed his belongings into a bin liner, stuffed a blanket under his bed sheets to make it look as if he was still sleeping, and crept out of his construction site. He hailed a taxi and travelled thousands of kilometres across the country to meet a lawyer who helped arrange his journey on to Seoul. In recent years, a small number of workers have been able to orchestrate their escapes using forbidden second-hand smartphones, bought by saving the small daily allowance they received for cigarettes and alcohol. In an attempt to prevent these escapes, multiple sources have told us that the North Korean authorities are now cracking down on workers' already limited freedom. According to Prof Kang from Dong-A University, one way the regime has tried to control the workers over the last year is by subjecting them to more frequent ideological training and self-criticism sessions, in which they are forced to declare their loyalty to Kim Jong Un and log their failings. Rare opportunities to leave construction sites have also been cut. "The workers used to go out in groups once a month, but recently these trips have reduced to almost zero," Prof Kang added. Kim Seung-chul, a Seoul-based activist who helps rescue North Korean workers from Russia, said these outings were being more tightly controlled. "They used to be allowed to leave in pairs, but since 2023 they have had to travel in groups of five and are monitored more intensely." In this climate, fewer workers are managing to escape. The South Korean government told us the number of North Koreans making it out of Russia each year and arriving in Seoul had halved since 2022 - from around 20 a year to just 10. Mr Lankov, the expert in North Korea-Russia relations, said the crackdowns were likely in preparation for many more workers arriving. "These workers will be the lasting legacy of Kim and Putin's wartime friendship," he said, arguing the workers would continue arriving long after the war had ended, and the deployment of soldiers and weapons had ceased. Additional reporting by Jake Kwon and Hosu Lee
Yahoo
12-08-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
North Koreans tell BBC they are being sent to work 'like slaves' in Russia
Thousands of North Koreans are being sent to work in slave-like conditions in Russia to fill a huge labour shortage exacerbated by Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the BBC has learned. Moscow has repeatedly turned to Pyongyang to help it fight the war, using its missiles, artillery shells and its soldiers. Now, with many of Russia's men either killed or tied up fighting - or having fled the country - South Korean intelligence officials have told the BBC that Moscow is increasingly relying on North Korean labourers. We interviewed six North Korean workers who have fled Russia since the start of the war, along with government officials, researchers and those helping to rescue the labourers. They detailed how the men are subjected to "abysmal" working conditions, and how the North Korean authorities are tightening their control over the workers to stop them escaping. One of the workers, Jin, told the BBC that when he landed in Russia's Far East, he was chaperoned from the airport to a construction site by a North Korean security agent, who ordered him not to talk to anyone or look at anything. "The outside world is our enemy," the agent told him. He was put straight to work building high-rise apartment blocks for more than 18 hours a day, he said. All six workers we spoke to described the same punishing workdays – waking at 6am and being forced to build high-rise apartments until 2am the next morning, with just two days off a year. We have changed their names to protect them. "Waking up was terrifying, realising you had to repeat the same day over again," said another construction worker, Tae, who managed to escape Russia last year. Tae recalled how his hands would seize up in the morning, unable to open, paralysed from the previous day's work. "Some people would leave their post to sleep in the day, or fall asleep standing up, but the supervisors would find them and beat them. It was truly like we were dying," said another of the workers, Chan. "The conditions are truly abysmal," said Kang Dong-wan, a professor at South Korea's Dong-A University who has travelled to Russia multiple times to interview North Korean labourers. "The workers are exposed to very dangerous situations. At night the lights are turned out and they work in the dark, with little safety equipment." The escapees told us that the workers are confined to their construction sites day and night, where they are watched by agents from North Korea's state security department. They sleep in dirty, overcrowded shipping containers, infested with bugs, or on the floor of unfinished apartment blocks, with tarps pulled over the door frames to try to keep out the cold. One labourer, Nam, said he once fell four metres off his building site and "smashed up" his face, leaving him unable to work. Even then his supervisors would not let him leave the site to visit a hospital. In the past, tens of thousands of North Koreans worked in Russia earning millions of pounds a year for the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, and his cash-strapped regime. Then in 2019, the UN banned countries from using these workers in an attempt to cut off Kim's funds and stop him building nuclear weapons, meaning most were sent home. But last year more than 10,000 labourers were sent to Russia, according to a South Korean intelligence official speaking to the BBC on the condition of anonymity. They told us that even more were expected to arrive this year, with Pyongyang possibly dispatching more than 50,000 workers in total. The sudden influx means North Korean workers are now "everywhere in Russia," the official added. While most are working on large-scale construction projects, others have been assigned to clothing factories and IT centres, they said, in violation of the UN sanctions banning the use of North Korean labour. Russian government figures show that more than 13,000 North Koreans entered the country in 2024, a 12-fold increase from the previous year. Nearly 8,000 of them entered on student visas but, according to the intelligence official and experts, this is a tactic used by Russia to bypass the UN ban. In June, a senior Russian official, Sergei Shoigu, admitted for the first time that 5,000 North Koreans would be sent to rebuild Kursk, a Russian region seized by Ukrainian forces last year but who have since been pushed back. The South Korean official told us it was also "highly likely" some North Koreans would soon be deployed to work on reconstruction projects in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories. "Russia is suffering a severe labour shortage right now and North Koreans offer the perfect solution. They are cheap, hard-working and don't get into trouble," said Andrei Lankov, a professor at Kookmin University in Seoul and a renowned expert in North Korea-Russia relations. These overseas construction jobs are highly coveted in North Korea as they promise to pay better than the work at home. Most workers go hoping to escape poverty and be able to buy a house for their family or start a business when they return. Only the most trusted men are selected after being rigorously vetted, and they must leave their families behind. But the bulk of their earnings is sent straight to the North Korean state as "loyalty fees". The remaining fraction – usually between $100-200 (£74-£149) a month - is marked down on a ledger. The workers only receive this money when they return home – a recent tactic, experts say, to stop them running away. Once the men realise the reality of the harsh work and lack of pay, it can be shattering. Tae said he was "ashamed" when he learnt that other construction workers from central Asia were being paid five times more than him for a third of the work. "I felt like I was in a labour camp; a prison without bars," he said. The labourer Jin still bristles when he remembers how the other workers would call them slaves. "You are not men, just machines that can speak," they jeered. At one point, Jin's manager told him he might not receive any money when he returned to North Korea because the state needed it instead. It was then he decided to risk his life to escape. Tae made the decision to defect after watching YouTube videos showing how much workers in South Korea were paid. One night, he packed his belongings into a bin liner, stuffed a blanket under his bed sheets to make it look as if he was still sleeping, and crept out of his construction site. He hailed a taxi and travelled thousands of kilometres across the country to meet a lawyer who helped arrange his journey on to Seoul. In recent years, a small number of workers have been able to orchestrate their escapes using forbidden second-hand smartphones, bought by saving the small daily allowance they received for cigarettes and alcohol. In an attempt to prevent these escapes, multiple sources have told us that the North Korean authorities are now cracking down on workers' already limited freedom. According to Prof Kang from Dong-A University, one way the regime has tried to control the workers over the last year is by subjecting them to more frequent ideological training and self-criticism sessions, in which they are forced to declare their loyalty to Kim Jong Un and log their failings. Rare opportunities to leave construction sites have also been cut. "The workers used to go out in groups once a month, but recently these trips have reduced to almost zero," Prof Kang added. Kim Seung-chul, a Seoul-based activist who helps rescue North Korean workers from Russia, said these outings were being more tightly controlled. "They used to be allowed to leave in pairs, but since 2023 they have had to travel in groups of five and are monitored more intensely." In this climate, fewer workers are managing to escape. The South Korean government told us the number of North Koreans making it out of Russia each year and arriving in Seoul had halved since 2022 - from around 20 a year to just 10. Mr Lankov, the expert in North Korea-Russia relations, said the crackdowns were likely in preparation for many more workers arriving. "These workers will be the lasting legacy of Kim and Putin's wartime friendship," he said, arguing the workers would continue arriving long after the war had ended, and the deployment of soldiers and weapons had ceased. Additional reporting by Jake Kwon and Hosu Lee Solve the daily Crossword
BBC News
12-08-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
North Koreans tell BBC they are sent to work 'like slaves' in Russia
Thousands of North Koreans are being sent to work in slave-like conditions in Russia to fill a huge labour shortage exacerbated by Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the BBC has has repeatedly turned to Pyongyang to help it fight the war, using its missiles, artillery shells and its soldiers. Now, with many of Russia's men either killed or tied up fighting - or having fled the country - South Korean intelligence officials have told the BBC that Moscow is increasingly relying on North Korean interviewed six North Korean workers who have fled Russia since the start of the war, along with government officials, researchers and those helping to rescue the detailed how the men are subjected to "abysmal" working conditions, and how the North Korean authorities are tightening their control over the workers to stop them of the workers, Jin, told the BBC that when he landed in Russia's Far East, he was chaperoned from the airport to a construction site by a North Korean security agent, who ordered him not to talk to anyone or look at anything. "The outside world is our enemy," the agent told him. He was put straight to work building high-rise apartment blocks for 18 hours a day, he six workers we spoke to described the same punishing workdays – waking at 6am and being forced to build high-rise apartments until 2am the next morning, with just two days off a year. We have changed their names to protect them. "Waking up was terrifying, realising you had to repeat the same day over again," said another construction worker, Tae, who managed to escape Russia last year. Tae recalled how his hands would seize up in the morning, unable to open, paralysed from the previous day's work."Some people would leave their post to sleep in the day, or fall asleep standing up, but the supervisors would find them and beat them. It was truly like we were dying," said another of the workers, Chan."The conditions are truly abysmal," said Kang Dong-wan, a professor at South Korea's Dong-A University who has travelled to Russia multiple times to interview North Korean labourers. "The workers are exposed to very dangerous situations. At night the lights are turned out and they work in the dark, with little safety equipment."The escapees told us that the workers are confined to their construction sites day and night, where they are watched by agents from North Korea's state security department. They sleep in dirty, overcrowded shipping containers, infested with bugs, or on the floor of unfinished apartment blocks, with tarps pulled over the door frames to try to keep out the labourer, Nam, said he once fell four metres off his building site and "smashed up" his face, leaving him unable to work. Even then his supervisors would not let him leave the site to visit a hospital. In the past, tens of thousands of North Koreans worked in Russia earning millions of pounds a year for the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, and his cash-strapped regime. Then in 2019, the UN banned countries from using these workers in an attempt to cut off Kim's funds and stop him building nuclear weapons, meaning most were sent last year more than 10,000 labourers were sent to Russia, according to a South Korean intelligence official speaking to the BBC on the condition of anonymity. They told us that even more were expected to arrive this year, with Pyongyang possibly dispatching more than 50,000 workers in sudden influx means North Korean workers are now "everywhere in Russia," the official added. While most are working on large-scale construction projects, others have been assigned to clothing factories and IT centres, they said, in violation of the UN sanctions banning the use of North Korean government figures show that more than 13,000 North Koreans entered the country in 2024, a 12-fold increase from the previous year. Nearly 8,000 of them entered on student visas but, according to the intelligence official and experts, this is a tactic used by Russia to bypass the UN June, a senior Russian official, Sergei Shoigu, admitted for the first time that 5,000 North Koreans would be sent to rebuild Kursk, a Russian region seized by Ukrainian forces last year but who have since been pushed back. The South Korean official told us it was also "highly likely" some North Koreans would soon be deployed to work on reconstruction projects in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories."Russia is suffering a severe labour shortage right now and North Koreans offer the perfect solution. They are cheap, hard-working and don't get into trouble," said Andrei Lankov, a professor at Kookmin University in Seoul and a renowned expert in North Korea-Russia relations. These overseas construction jobs are highly coveted in North Korea as they promise to pay better than the work at home. Most workers go hoping to escape poverty and be able to buy a house for their family or start a business when they return. Only the most trusted men are selected after being rigorously vetted, and they must leave their families the bulk of their earnings is sent straight to the North Korean state as "loyalty fees". The remaining fraction – usually between $100-200 (£74-£149) a month - is marked down on a ledger. The workers only receive this money when they return home – a recent tactic, experts say, to stop them running the men realise the reality of the harsh work and lack of pay, it can be shattering. Tae said he was "ashamed" when he learnt that other construction workers from central Asia were being paid five times more than him for a third of the work. "I felt like I was in a labour camp; a prison without bars," he labourer Jin still bristles when he remembers how the other workers would call them slaves. "You are not men, just machines that can speak," they jeered. At one point, Jin's manager told him he might not receive any money when he returned to North Korea because the state needed it instead. It was then he decided to risk his life to made the decision to defect after watching YouTube videos showing how much workers in South Korea were paid. One night, he packed his belongings into a bin liner, stuffed a blanket under his bed sheets to make it look as if he was still sleeping, and crept out of his construction site. He hailed a taxi and travelled thousands of kilometres across the country to meet a lawyer who helped arrange his journey on to recent years, a small number of workers have been able to orchestrate their escapes using forbidden second-hand smartphones, bought by saving the small daily allowance they received for cigarettes and alcohol. In an attempt to prevent these escapes, multiple sources have told us that the North Korean authorities are now cracking down on workers' already limited to Prof Kang from Dong-A University, one way the regime has tried to control the workers over the last year is by subjecting them to more frequent ideological training and self-criticism sessions, in which they are forced to declare their loyalty to Kim Jong Un and log their opportunities to leave construction sites have also been cut. "The workers used to go out in groups once a month, but recently these trips have reduced to almost zero," Prof Kang Seung-chul, a Seoul-based activist who helps rescue North Korean workers from Russia, said these outings were being more tightly controlled. "They used to be allowed to leave in pairs, but since 2023 they have had to travel in groups of five and are monitored more intensely."In this climate, fewer workers are managing to escape. The South Korean government told us the number of North Koreans making it out of Russia each year and arriving in Seoul had halved since 2022 - from around 20 a year to just Lankov, the expert in North Korea-Russia relations, said the crackdowns were likely in preparation for many more workers arriving."These workers will be the lasting legacy of Kim and Putin's wartime friendship," he said, arguing the workers would continue arriving long after the war had ended, and the deployment of soldiers and weapons had reporting by Jake Kwon and Hosu Lee
The Independent
27-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Ukraine-Russia war latest: New prisoner swap agreed in Istanbul includes return of ‘heroes of Mariupol'
North Korea's deployment to Ukraine will be 'significant battlefield inflection' – ISW North Korea's deployment of its troops to Ukrainian territory will represent 'significant battlefield inflection', the Institute for the Study of War. 'The North Korean and Russian military commands authorising the deployment of North Korean forces to Ukrainian territory would mark a significant battlefield inflection that may improve Russian forces' ability to sustain simultaneous offensive operations in multiple directions, which the Russian military has traditionally struggled to conduct,' the US-based think tank said in its latest assessment. According to the South Korean intelligence, North Korea may deploy an unspecified number of additional North Korean forces to Russia to fight against Ukraine as early as July or August 2025 and that North Korea continues to arm Russia with artillery ammunition and missiles. Arpan Rai27 June 2025 06:33 Britain must 'actively prepare' for a war on home soil, major government review warns The UK must prepare for the possibility of a ' wartime scenario' on home soil, a major new government review has National Security Strategy, published on Tuesday, has issued the grim warning as events in the Middle East and Russia's war with Ukraine continue to add to international instability. It comes just 48 hours after Iran threatened to target UK bases following the US attack on its nuclear facilities, before a ceasefire was announced last night. The strategy also recommends that UK citizens undergo 'national resilience exercises' in preparation for attacks at home. UK must 'actively prepare' for a war on home soil, major government review warns The new National Security Strategy has been published with a grim warning as international turmoil in the Middle East and Ukraine continues Arpan Rai27 June 2025 06:29 EU leaders seek a big boost in Ukraine military support but make little progress on Russia sanctions European Union leaders called for even greater efforts to help meet Ukraine's pressing military needs, and expressed support for the country's quest to join their ranks. The talks, however, made little headway with new sanctions against Russia, slowing EU's key agenda for months now. At a summit in Brussels yesterday, the leaders said it was important to deliver more "air defense and anti-drone systems, and large-caliber ammunition, to help Ukraine, as it exercises its inherent right to self-defence, to protect its citizens and territory against Russia's intensified daily attacks." They also underlined the need to help support Ukraine's defence industry, which can make weapons and ammunition more quickly and cheaply than its European counterparts. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy took part in the meeting via videolink. The leaders said the bloc "remains steadfast in its support for Ukraine's path towards EU membership." That message comes a day after Nato leaders refrained from putting a reference to Ukraine's hopes of joining the military organisation in their summit statement, due in large part to US resistance. Arpan Rai27 June 2025 05:58 Zelensky welcomes home fresh batch of Ukrainian prisoners of war Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed home a new batch of the country's soldiers taken captive by Russia as the two sides exchanged more prisoners of war yesterday. 'We are continuing the exchanges, another stage has taken place. Today, warriors of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, and the State Border Guard Service are returning home. Most of them had been in captivity since 2022,' he said in a post on X. 'We are doing everything possible to find each person, to verify the information on every name. We must bring all our people home,' he said, just days after he said Russia had sent some of its own dead soldiers to Ukraine in a swap of fallen soldiers. He also shared an emotional video of the Ukrainian soldiers reuniting with their loved ones upon return to the country at an undisclosed location. The returned soldiers are seen draped in Ukrainian flags, hugging and crying their loved ones, calling their family members, drinking a beverage and smoking. Arpan Rai27 June 2025 05:43 Chinese reporter injured in Ukrainian drone attack on Kursk, Russia says A Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's Kursk region on the border with Ukraine injured a war correspondent from the Chinese news outlet Phoenix TV, Russian authorities said late last night, "A Ukrainian drone today struck the village of Korenevo in the Korenevsky district," acting governor of the Kursk region, Alexander Khinshtein, said on Telegram. "A 63-year-old correspondent, Lu Yuguang, who went to the border area on his own, was injured." Mr Khinshtein said in a later post that the journalist had skin cuts to his head and after treatment, refused hospitalisation. Russia's foreign ministry called on the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and other international organisations to "promptly respond and give a proper assessment" of the incident. "The targeted attack.... indicates the intention of the Kyiv regime to silence and de facto destroy representatives of any media that seek to convey objective information," Maria Zakharova, the foreign ministry's spokesperson, said in a Telegram post. According to Russia's state and official media outlets, Lu has been reporting on the war since its early days. Russia launched the war with a full-scale invasion on Ukraine in February 2022. Lu told Russia's state news agencies that he was feeling fine. "Western journalists are not visible at all (in Kursk)," Lu said in a video posted by TASS on social media, with his head in bandages, "We, Chinese journalists, want to convey what happened in the Kursk region." Russia has also urged for an intervention from the United Nations on the incident. Arpan Rai27 June 2025 05:32 North Korea could send troops to Russia for summer offensive, says South Korea North Korea may send more troops to Russia to fight against Ukraine this summer, South Korean lawmakers have claimed citing the country's intelligence agency. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) believes Russia may be readying to mount a large-scale assault against Ukraine in July or August, South Korean member of parliament Lee Seong-kweun told reporters. This assessment is based on new round-up of troops by the North Korean military, and the visit of a top Russian presidential security official. Pyongyang is likely to receive technical advice on satellite launches and missile guidance systems in return, the briefing said according to Mr Lee. Russia and North Korea have said their cooperation is based on a treaty signed by Vladimir Putin and North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un, which includes a mutual defence pact. Arpan Rai27 June 2025 05:07 Russia and Ukraine carry out new round of prisoner swaps Russia and Ukraine completed another round of prisoner exchanges, officials in both countries said yesterday, part of an agreement struck in Istanbul recently between the two sides. Both sides exchanged the same number of prisoners, but there was no word on how many soldiers were involved, Russian state RIA news agency said. Ukraine's coordination headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war said majority of the prsioners had been captive and in Russian custody for more than three years. The swap included injured soldiers and those with health complaints. The youngest is 24 and the oldest is 62, it said, adding that more exchanges are expected soon. Many of them were taken prisoner in the Ukrainian city Mariupol, which fell to Russian forces after a lengthy siege in 2022. 27 June 2025 04:20 Kremlin says no progress towards next Russia-Ukraine peace talks The Kremlin has said there was no progress yet towards setting a date for the next round of peace talks with Ukraine, Interfax news agency reported yesterday. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia was in favour of continued US mediation effort, another news agency, Tass, reported. Resuming negotiations after a gap of more than three years, Russia and Ukraine held face-to-face talks in Istanbul on 16 May and 2 June that led to a series of prisoner exchanges and the return of the bodies of dead soldiers. But they have made no progress towards a ceasefire which Ukraine, with Western backing, has been pressing for. Arpan Rai27 June 2025 04:05 Trump would join peace talks between Putin and Zelensky, says Erdogan Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Donald Trump told him he would attend potential peace talks between the leaders of Ukraine and Russia in Turkey. But it all depends on if Russian president Vladimir Putin also agreed to take part, Mr Erdogan said. On his return flight from a Nato summit at The Hague, where he met Mr Trump for the first time since the latter returned to office, Mr Erdogan said he told the US president Ankara aims to bring the Russian and Ukrainian leaders together in Turkey for peace talks. "He (Trump) said, 'if Russian president Vladimir Putin comes to Istanbul or Ankara for a solution, then I will also come," Mr Erdogan told reporters, according to his office. "We will hold the necessary contacts and God willing realise this meeting as soon as possible." Arpan Rai27 June 2025 04:03 The myriad countries arming Russia and Ukraine – and the billions it costs Donald Trump has suggested that the US could send more Patriot missile systems to Ukraine, and has not ruled out providing the war-torn country with a new military support package. Speaking at the Nato summit in the Netherlands on Wednesday, the president said 'we'll see what happens' when asked whether Washington would add to the $8 billion pledged by Nato allies. "They do want to have the anti-missile missiles, OK, as they call them, the Patriots," the US president said. "And we're going to see if we can make some available. We need them, too. We're supplying them to Israel, and they're very effective, 100 per cent effective. Hard to believe how effective. They do want that more than any other thing.' Here, The Independent takes a look at what weapons the US and other countries have been sending to Ukraine and Russia as the war show no signs of ending soon. The myriad countries arming Russia and Ukraine – and the billions it costs Arpan Rai27 June 2025 03:59
Telegraph
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
North Korea grants families rare privileges to temper anger over war dead
North Korea will allow the families of soldiers killed fighting for Russia the 'privilege' of moving to Pyongyang, and build a monument to its fallen soldiers, it has been reported. Being permitted to move to the capital is a rare honour under the authoritarian rule of Kim Jong-un, and is likely a calculated move to limit criticism of his regime by the relatives of the dead, experts have said. One analyst also suggested the offer may also be a way of concentrating families and reducing the spread of rumours about the losses that North Korean forces have suffered and the conditions they endured fighting in Vladimir Putin's armies. A report by the Seoul-based South and North Development Institute claimed that the government of Kim Jong-un is considering granting 'capital residency rights' to families of the war dead after it became apparent that there is a groundswell of public anger over the dispatch of troops to the war against Ukraine. Quoting sources in the North, the report said the relatives would be given homes in the newly developed suburbs of Songshin and Hwasong. 'Ordinarily, it is an enormous privilege to be able to live in Pyongyang as only the elite in North Korean society are permitted to live there or even enter the city,' said Rah Jong-yil, a former diplomat and senior South Korean intelligence officer. 'But it is also easy to see this as a means of controlling the families,' he added. 'Having these people all in one place means it is easier to stop the rumours spreading around the country and privilege is also something that can be taken away.' Reports of North Koreans fighting on Russia's behalf date back to October 2024. Although rumours have been rife in the North for several months, North Korean state-run media only officially reported that troops had been deployed to fight alongside Russian units in Ukraine on April 28. As many as 15,000 personnel are believed to have been sent to the front, with South Korean intelligence estimating that 600 have been killed and a further 4,100 injured. Announcing the North Korean contribution to the liberation of Russia's Kursk region after an extended incursion by Ukrainian troops last year, Kim Jong-un said, 'They all fought for justice and are heroes, representatives of the honour of their country'. 'Sense of solidarity' In a statement, Russia's leader Vladimir Putin expressed his appreciation for the assistance of Pyongyang's forces, saying, 'Our Korean friends acted out of a sense of solidarity, justice and genuine comradeship'. North Korea has also announced plans to construct a new 'combat honour monument' in Pyongyang. In another indication that the regime is bracing the public for the consequences of deploying units in Europe, state-run media reported that the Kaesong Disabled Soldiers' Medical Appliances Factory has been 'wonderfully renovated'. Kim Jong-un 'took benevolent measures' to modernise the factory and expand its production capacity, it added.
