Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin’s ship fires at German helicopter

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was in Malta for the annual meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in his first visit to a European Union nation since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. US secretary of state Antony Blinken and the Ukraine‘s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha were also attending the meeting, where Ukraine was high on the agenda.

It has been relatively rare for Mr Lavrov to attend forums with senior Western officials, although he recently attended the United Nations General Assembly and the G20 summit in Brazil.

Thousands of North Korean soldiers have been stationed at checkpoints in Russia’s embattled Kursk Oblast but are not involved in direct combat, according to Ukraine’s military-run National Resistance Center.

Between 10,000-12,000 troops sent are being used as a “second echelon”, the Center added, deepening ties between the two countries.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said he had imposed sanctions on Georgian former prime inister Bidzina Ivanishvili and some members of Georgia’s government.

“These are sanctions against the part of the government in Georgia that is handing Georgia over to (Russian resident Vladimir) Putin,” Mr Zelensky said.

Tensions have been rising between Georgia’s governing party and opponents who say the South Caucasus country is pursuing increasingly authoritarian, anti-Western and pro-Russian policies.

There is only a “remote chance” Russia would directly attack or invade the United Kingdom, the chief of the Armed Forces has said.

“That includes recognising that there is only a remote chance of a significant direct attack or invasion by Russia on the United Kingdom, and that’s the same for the whole of Nato,” Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said at his annual lecture at the Royal United Services Institute on Wednesday (4 December).

A family member of Russian president Vladimir Putin accidentally revealed what is likely a confidential tally of the appeals by relatives of soldiers trying to track down their missing loved ones.

Anna Tsivilyova, the daughter of Mr Putin’s cousin and a deputy defence minister, said the government received tens of thousands of appeals from relatives trying to trace soldiers, dead or missing, through DNA samples.

Nearly 50,000 relatives of Russian troops have submitted DNA samples, a government minister has been recorded as saying.

The figure was given by Deputy Defence Minister Anna Tsivilyova at a round-table discussion on 26 November, prompting a senior lawmaker to warn that such data should not be published anywhere.

Russia has not released official statistics about its war losses in Ukraine since the initial months following its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Western countries believe hundreds of thousands of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or wounded in gruelling trench warfare in Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two.

Independent news site Astra published a video of last week’s meeting where Russian officials and lawmakers were discussing support for troops involved in what Moscow calls its “special military operation” and for their family members.

Tsivilyova said the 48,000 soldiers’ relatives had submitted their DNA for free to an interior ministry database.

In an annual address at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) defence think tank in London, chief of the defence staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said Britain and its western allies were facing “wild threats” from the alliance of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.

After the first phase of the nuclear age during the Cold War and the second age defined by disarmament, Sir Tony said the world was now entering a third era in which nuclear threats and exercises are becoming more prevalent again.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 44 drones and two Iskander-M ballistic missiles overnight.

Of the total 44 drones, the Ukrainian air force shot down 30 and lost track of 12, likely due to electronic warfare, with one drone heading toward Belarus, according to the statement.

US military chief General CQ Brown spoke by phone with Russia’s chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov last week, US officials said yesterday.

This is the first time Brown has spoken with his Russian counterpart.

“The leaders discussed a number of global and regional security issues to include the ongoing conflict in Ukraine,” a spokesperson for Brown said in a statement.

The rare call took place on 27 November, but “at the request of General Gerasimov, General Brown agreed to not proactively announce the call”. The request for the call was made by the Russian ministry of defence, the spokesperson said.

Brown became chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff last year. Gerasimov had spoken previously with Brown’s predecessor, Mark Milley.

Tensions between Russia and the US over Ukraine have spiked in recent weeks, particularly after Ukraine fired US and British missiles at targets inside Russia despite Moscow’s warnings that it would see such action as a major escalation.