Russia strikes dozens of villages and cities – DW – 01/11/2023

South Korea’s leading spy agency believes North Korea has sent more than a million artillery shells to Russia since early August.

The claim comes according to lawmaker Yoo Sang-bum, who attended a private briefing with security intelligence officials on Wednesday.

This news comes as Ukraine announced that Russia had bombed and launched drone strikes against more than 100 Ukrainian settlements in the past 24 hours.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made a short trip across the Russian border in September to meet with Vladimir Putin.

While the exact nature of their cooperation is unknown, North Korea is believed to be supplying Russia with much-needed munitions in exchange for Russian technologies that would bolster Kim’s nuclear-armed army.

Both countries have denied these allegations.

Ukraine said Russia bombed and launched drone strikes against more than 100 settlements in the past 24 hours — more than any other day so far this year.

“Over the past 24 hours, the enemy has attacked 118 settlements in 10 regions. This is the largest number of cities and villages under attack since the beginning of the year,” Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said in a post on social media. .

Night attacks in North-East Kharkiv region Local officials said that at least one person was killed, and another person was killed in the southern Kherson region. A Russian drone attack on the southern city of Nikopol also reportedly killed a 59-year-old woman.

Ukraine said 275 children were being evacuated from 10 sites in and around Kobyansk, which is less than eight kilometers (five miles) from the front line.

Since launching its offensive last February, Moscow has fired millions of artillery shells into Ukrainian cities, towns and villages along the front lines. Many settlements in the eastern part of the country have been reduced to ruins.

The Swiss government said it would retain the special protection status granted to Ukrainians who fled the war until March 4, 2025.

“The situation in Ukraine is not expected to change in the foreseeable future,” the Federal Council statement said.

The Swiss government has also set a labor market integration target, with the aim of bringing about 40% of people with “S protection status” who are able to work into the labor market by the end of next year.

The status, which allows people to travel abroad and work in Switzerland, is usually limited to one year but can be extended.

Kiev said Russia’s overnight attack, which it says launched dozens of missiles and drones targeting military and vital infrastructure, hit the Kremenchuk oil refinery.

The Ukrainian Air Force said that a large number of Shahed drones were destroyed before they reached their targets, in addition to a missile.

The Kremenchuk refinery in the central Poltava region was a frequent target and was set on fire, according to the head of the military administration in the region, Philipp Pronin.

“[The fire] It was put out. “The situation is under control,” Pronin said via Telegram.

He said there were no initial reports of casualties while officials sought to gather more details about the destruction.

Ukraine has begun implementing mandatory registration of food export companies in a bid to crack down on abuses such as tax evasion.

While Ukraine is one of the world’s largest food producers and exporters, officials estimate that up to a third of goods exported are purchased for cash – sold without paying the required taxes.

The new procedure means that companies registered in the state agricultural registry are value-added tax payers and do not have tax debts or delays in repatriating foreign currency revenues. Only these companies are allowed to engage in exports.

Ukraine is in dire need of money for the war against Russia. Data show that Ukraine’s grain exports in October fell by almost half year-on-year to 2.15 million metric tons from 4.22 million.

Trader and farmer groups say Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports and Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports on the Danube River are the main reasons for the decline in exports.

rc/sms (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)