No world leader can negotiate with Putin on Ukraine without Ukraine, Zelenskyi says. More than 200 North Korean troops were wounded in a few days in Kursk region, an intercepted audio reveals. Rheinmetall to supply Ukraine with propelling charges for 155mm artillery.
No world leader can negotiate with Putin on Ukraine without Ukraine, Zelenskyi says
Talks with Putin about Ukraine without Ukraine are unacceptable, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said, speaking to the readers of French daily Le Parisien via video link on Monday.
“I insist that no leader in the world has the right to negotiate with Putin [about Ukraine] without Ukraine. We have never delegated this mandate to anyone. We are the victims. It would be unfair if others decided on how our country should live. The French in France, the Italians in Italy, and the Americans in the United States know what they wish for themselves. So do the Ukrainians,” Zelenskyi said, as translated from Ukrainian.
There needs to be a strategy, or a peace plan to negotiate from a strong position. It can be later presented to Putin “or the broader Russian side,” he explained.
Putin is open to discussing a Ukraine ceasefire deal with Donald Trump but rules out making any major territorial concessions and insists Kyiv abandon ambitions to join NATO, five sources with knowledge of Kremlin thinking told Reuters, the news site said on November 20.
“Putin has already said that freezing the conflict will not work in any way,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters.
“No schemes involving a freeze of the conflict will suit Russia,” Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations declared Vasily Nebenzya said during a UN Security Council meeting on December 17.
More than 200 North Korean troops wounded in few days in Kursk region, intercepted audio reveals
The Security Service of Ukraine said on Tuesday to have intercepted a phone call between a nurse at a hospital in Moscow region and her husband — a soldier fighting for Russia. In two days, the nurse said, around 220 wounded North Korean service members were brought to the hospital.
The woman can be heard saying: “Yesterday there was a train with about 100 people, today — 120 others, making 200. How many more are there? God only knows.”
The woman continues by complaining that North Korean soldiers have taken over the country’s hospitals while injured Russians are treated in worse conditions.
“Are they elite, these Koreans? We are freeing up certain wards for them,” the nurse asked in the recording.
The nurse explains that the language barrier causes problems as the North Koreans don’t speak any Russian and medical staff are not allowed to speak to them in English, and can only use an online translator which often leads to errors.
“I am asked: how are you going to understand that you need to do a pain injection? I say: there’s no way to understand it. If they shout, it means it hurts them,” the nurse said.
Ukraine’s Security Service added it had opened a criminal case against North Korean service members for participating in a war of aggression against Ukraine.
Rheinmetall to supply Ukraine with propelling charges for 155mm artillery
Rheinmetall has been contracted by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence to supply 155mm artillery propellant charge modules, the company said in a statement Wednesday.
The order, booked in Q4 2024, is worth around EUR 9 million. It envisages the delivery of several tens of thousands of 155mm propellant charge modules of various types. They are to be delivered in January 2025.
Rheinmetall is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of large-caliber ammunition and propellant systems. In modern artillery, projectiles and propelling charges are loaded separately in order to achieve different ranges.
With extensive deliveries and support services for Ukraine, Rheinmetall is now the country’s most important defense industry partner in its defensive struggle against Russian aggression, the company said. During the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2024 in Berlin, the company and Ukraine signed a memorandum of understanding to expand their strategic cooperation. The agreement aims to identify and develop further areas for deeper cooperation between the Ukrainian defense industry and the Düsseldorf-based technology group.
Concrete projects in the planning stage include the production of artillery ammunition as well as the delivery and production of Lynx infantry fighting vehicles. In addition to possible direct deliveries by Rheinmetall, the reindustrialization of national manufacturing know-how is intended to make a significant contribution to Ukraine’s sustainable defense capability.