North Korea leader speaks of ‘really meaningful year’ for alliance with Moscow; Zelenskyy accuses Russia of using Belarus apartments to attack Ukraine. What we know on day 1,403
The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has highlighted how his country and Russia had shared “blood, life and death” in the Ukraine war in a new year’s greeting to Vladimir Putin. In the message, published by the state-run KCNA news agency, Kim said 2025 was a “really meaningful year” for the bilateral alliance that was consolidated by “sharing blood, life and death in the same trench”. North Korea confirmed in April that it had deployed troops to support Russia’s military campaign against Ukraine and that its soldiers had been killed in combat. Earlier this month, Pyongyang acknowledged that it had sent troops to clear mines in Russia’s Kursk region in August 2025.
Several powerful explosions rocked Kyiv on Saturday as authorities warned that the Ukrainian capital was under threat of missile attack. “Explosions in the capital. Air defence forces are operating. Stay in shelters!” Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, wrote on Telegram. Ukraine’s air force also announced a countrywide air alert in the early hours of Saturday and said on social media that drones and missiles were moving over several Ukrainian regions, including the capital. Agence France-Presse journalists in Kyiv heard several loud explosions, some accompanied by bright flashes that lit the horizon orange. A military Telegram channel said cruise and ballistic missiles were being deployed in the city.
