Russia’s defence minister said on Monday that Moscow must be ready to fight the Nato military alliance in Europe in the next decade, as President Vladimir Putin said he believed the Ukraine war was turning in Moscow’s favour.
President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky should be prepared to make a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to bring an end to the nearly three-year Ukraine war.
North Korean troops had entered combat alongside Russian forces in Kursk for the first time and Washington had indications that North Korean troops had been killed and injured, said the Pentagon on Monday.
Russia must be ready to fight Nato in Europe in next decade, says minister
Russia’s defence minister said on Monday that Moscow must be ready to fight the Nato military alliance in Europe in the next decade, as President Vladimir Putin said he believed the Ukraine war was turning in Moscow’s favour.
Andrei Belousov, Putin’s defence chief, cited a Nato summit in July, and military doctrines in the US and other Nato members, as evidence that Moscow had to prepare for direct conflict with a more assertive Nato in the coming years.
“The activities of the Ministry of Defence are based on ... ensuring full readiness for any scenario in the medium term, including a possible military conflict with Nato in Europe in the next decade,” Belousov told an audience including Putin at his ministry.
Belousov set out a raft of changes and reforms that he said were needed, “taking into account the nature of future military conflicts”.
He cited US plans to modernise its nuclear forces, the opening of a US missile defence base in Poland, new Nato combat readiness plans, and plans announced at the Nato summit to deploy US medium-range missiles in Germany in 2026.
He said the US could soon have hypersonic missiles available that could reach Moscow in eight minutes.
Putin told the same gathering that the large numbers volunteering for service were turning the tide of the Ukraine war in Moscow’s favour, as open-source maps suggest his army is advancing at the fastest pace since 2022.
“Russian troops have a firm grip on the strategic initiative along the entire line of contact. This year alone, 189 population centres have been liberated,” he said.
He said roughly 430,000 Russians had signed army contracts this year, up from roughly 300,000 last year.
Belousov said Russia had pushed Ukrainian forces out of almost 4,500 sq km of territory this year and was taking about 30 sq km a day.
Putin accused the West of pushing Russia to its “red lines” — situations it has publicly made clear it will not tolerate — and said Moscow had been forced to respond.
“They [Western leaders] are simply scaring their own population that we are going to attack someone there using the pretext of the mythical Russian threat,” said Putin.
“The tactic is very simple: they push us to ‘a red line’, from which we cannot retreat, we start to respond and then they immediately scare their population.”
He said Russia was watching the US development of short- and medium-range missiles with great concern and would lift its own voluntary restrictions on the stationing of such missiles if the US decided to put them into service.
Trump says deal needed to stop Russia-Ukraine war
President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky should be prepared to make a deal with Putin to bring an end to the nearly three-year-old Ukraine war.
“Gotta make a deal,” Trump said at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
Trump said he would talk to Putin and Zelensky about bringing the war in Ukraine to an end, saying he was troubled by images of carnage from the conflict.
“It’s got to stop,” said Trump.
Trump did not give a direct answer when asked whether he believed Ukraine should cede territory to Russia as part of a negotiated settlement to end the war.
Trump said much of the territory in dispute had been reduced to rubble and that it would take a century to recover.
“I mean, there are cities that there’s not a building standing, it’s a demolition site,” he said.
North Korean troops killed in combat against Ukraine, says Pentagon
North Korean troops had entered combat alongside Russian forces in Kursk for the first time and Washington had indications that North Korean troops had been killed and injured, said the Pentagon on Monday.
“We do assess that North Korean soldiers have engaged in combat in Kursk. We do have indications that they have suffered casualties, both killed and wounded,” Pentagon spokesperson Major General Pat Ryder told reporters.
Ryder said he did not have details on the number of North Korean casualties but added that the North Korean troops entered combat last week.
Ukraine said on Monday that North Korean units fighting for Russia sustained losses of at least 30 soldiers killed or wounded around several villages on the front in Russia’s Kursk region over the weekend.
Ukraine ‘has laser weapon able to down targets flying at over 2km high’
Ukraine possessed a laser weapon capable of shooting down airborne targets at an altitude of more than 2kim, said the country’s drone forces commander on Monday. The military official, Vadym Sukharevskyi, did not provide any more details in his first official remarks about the existence of the weapon. Reuters was unable to verify his statement.
“Today we can already shoot down aircraft at an altitude of over 2km with this laser,” he was quoted as saying by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
Sukharevskyi said the laser was named the Tryzub — the Ukrainian word for a trident, which is a symbol used on the national coat of arms — suggesting it was domestically produced.
EU adopts new Russia sanctions targeting China, shadow fleet
The European Union has adopted a 15th package of sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, including tougher measures against Chinese entities and more vessels from Moscow’s so-called shadow fleet, said the EU Commission in a statement on Monday.
The new package adds 52 vessels from the shadow fleet that try to circumvent Western restrictions to move oil, arms and grains, bringing the total listed to 79.
The EU began adding ships this year in response to an increase in the number of vessels transporting cargo that is not regulated or insured by conventional Western providers. The listing included vessels that delivered North Korean ammunition to Russia.
Of the 52 vessels sanctioned, 33 were included for transporting crude oil or petroleum products originating in or exported from Russia, taking the total number of vessels sanctioned for transporting oil to 43.
The new restrictions add 84 new individuals and entities, including seven Chinese persons and entities.
“Namely one individual and two entities facilitating the circumvention of EU sanctions, and four entities supplying sensitive drone components and microelectronic components to the Russian military,” said the statement, referring to the Chinese listings.
The Chinese additions will be the first fully-fledged sanctions on the country which include a travel ban and asset freeze.
In addition, the list includes senior managers in Russia’s energy sector, two senior North Korean officials as well as 20 Russian companies and entities in India, Iran, Serbia and the United Arab Emirates.
Also added to the list was EU citizen Niels Troost, the businessperson who it said controls the energy trading firm Paramount Energy and Commodities DMCC.
Paramount DMCC, the EU alleged, “repeatedly traded Russian crude oil above the oil price cap after its introduction.” Troost was also included for his alleged links to Livna Shipping Ltd, which the EU said had traded crude oil above the price cap since its introduction.
A spokesperson for Troost said he would challenge the designation.
Russia disrupting Baltic security in test for Nato, says Polish admiral
Russia was disrupting mobile communications and ship-tracking data across the Baltic Sea, endangering vessels and energy supplies to test how Western powers would respond, said a Polish admiral overseeing the area.
Vice-Admiral Krzysztof Jaworski said Moscow was systematically using such tactics to hide the movements of its own vessels and disrupt the operations of others in the sea, which is bordered by eight Nato countries and Russia.
“Hybrid war in the Baltic is the biggest challenge we are facing,” Jaworski told Reuters in an interview last week, referring to the practice of launching conventional attacks alongside attempts to disrupt politics, energy supplies and other systems.
“We are talking about aggressive behaviour by Russia. They are trying to disrupt our lives,” added Jaworski, Poland’s maritime component commander. “They are also testing us, us as an alliance [to see] how far they can go.”
Ukraine blames Russia for Black Sea oil spill
Ukraine said on Monday Russia was to blame for a major oil spill in the Kerch Strait that leads into the Black Sea, accusing Moscow of breaking navigation safety rules by using old tankers and keeping two vessels at sea during a storm.
A Russian oil tanker split apart during a storm on Sunday, while another one ended up in distress in the strait that separates Russia from the Crimean Peninsula that Moscow's troops seized and annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Russia did not say how much fuel was leaked but its state news agency, Tass, reported the two vessels had been carrying 9,200 tonnes of oil products.
“The Russians have a rather complicated situation ... in the Azov and the Black Sea region. They use an outdated fleet: these ships were more than 50 years old,” Dmytro Pletenchuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s navy, told Reuters by phone.
The vessel that was torn apart, the Volgoneft 212, dates back to 1969 and the Volgoneft 239 was built in 1973, according to certificates seen by Reuters.
Pletenchuk said the vessels in the accident were designed to transfer oil products along rivers and load them onto other vessels at sea and were not meant to be used in stormy weather.
The two vessels had earlier turned off their AIS identification system, a global naval navigation system, making it impossible to identify their locations using satellites, he added.
Tax Russia to rebuild Ukraine and increase defence spending - Estonia
Estonia would propose that the leaders of the UK-led alliance of northern European Nato countries spend no less than 2.5% of GDP on defence in response to the threat from Russia, said Prime Minister Kristen Michal on Monday.
Only 23 of the 32 Nato members are on track to hit the Nato target of a minimum of 2% of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defence spending.
“Everybody in Nato and in the EU right now has the feeling in their backbone that you should increase defence expenditure, because of what is happening all over the world and with Russia,” Michal told Reuters in an interview.
“Europe. as the wealthiest region of the world. has to spend more on defence, security and security.”
Estonia has doubled its defence spending since the start of the nearly three-year-old war in Ukraine, up to 3.2% of GDP in 2024.
Michal proposed using €200-billion to €300-billion of Russia’s frozen assets abroad to rebuild Ukraine and imposing additional taxes on Russian goods to raise up to €300-billion more.
That would bring lasting peace, Michal said, because Russia would be unable to continue hostilities, including so-called hybrid attacks, and Ukraine's military resources should also be strengthened.
“Ukraine is part of Europe, it should be a member of Nato,” added Michal. DM