Ukraine updates: Russian attacks kill 3, including child

Ukraine continues to battle corruption in its state bureaucracy as Russia's invasion continues. 

On Tuesday, Andriy Kostin became the third Attorney General to resign since President Volodymyr Zelenskyy came to office in 2019, stepping down from his position after the Ukrainian secret service (SBU) said it was investigating 64 civil servants in his department who they suspect of holding falsified disability certificates.

Earlier this month, local media in the western Ukrainian city of Khmelnytskyi reported that dozens of state prosecutors were falsely claiming various degrees of disability and also claiming special disability pensions.

Nine more have reportedly already been sentenced and similar cases are suspected in other regions.

After more than two-and-a-half years of war and with supplies of fresh volunteers having long since dried up, the Ukrainian army is increasingly turning to conscription to replenish embattled units at the front. This in turn has led to an increase in men of military age looking to avoid the draft, often by feigning medical ineligibility.

In a related raid on Tuesday, investigators discovered around $450,000 (€416, 637) in cash and a stash of expensive jewels at the home of a senior local health official in the southern city of Mykolaiv.

The official had reportedly only declared a total of around $44,000 between 2015 and 2023 while purchasing three apartments in her son's name. She had also allegedly issued disability cards for herself and her son in order to obtain a disability pension and other state benefits.

Attorney General Kostin agreed to Zelenskyy's request that he take "political responsibility" as the president tries to clamp down on corruption.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday evening that his intelligence officials had information about up to 12,000 North Korean troops preparing for deployment in Ukraine – and called on Kyiv's western allies not to "turn a blind eye."

Zelenskyy referred to "two units of North Korean military personnel – potentially two brigades of around 6,000 soldiers each." He said it was a "challenge" but that Ukraine knew how to respond to it.

"And it is important that our partners do not shy away from this challenge as well. All partners," he added.

"It's clear that in Pyongyang, just as in Moscow, they don't value human life," he said in his nightly television address. "If North Korea can intervene in a war in Europe, it's obvious that there hasn't been enough pressure on this regime. That's why we must stop Russia and its allies together. Aggressors must be stopped."

South Korean military intelligence said last week that North Korea had shipped 1,500 special forces troops to Russia's Far East for training and acclimatization ahead of likely combat deployment in Ukraine.

British Defense Secretary John Healey also said on Tuesday that it was "highly likely" that North Korea had begun sending hundreds of troops to support Russia.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said such a deployment would significantly escalate the conflict, while a top US diplomat told the Reuters news agency that it would be a "dangerous and highly concerning development" if true.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb, on the other hand, told Reuters on Tuesday that Moscow was getting "desperate."

"[They've] not got too many allies in this world," he said during a visit to Berlin. "[They] rely on Iranian weapons … on North Korean soldiers. How much worse can it get?"

Poland has announced it is shutting down a Russian consulate in the western city of Poznan due to suspected sabotage.

The EU and NATO country says its role as a transport hub for military supplies to Ukraine has made it a target for Russian espionage, sabotage and arson.

The closure of the Poznan consulate comes as a 51-year-old Ukrainian citizen faces trial in the southwestern Polish city of Wroclaw for allegedly planning to set fire to a paint factory.

Prosecutors had reached an agreement for the suspect to serve three years in prison, but a Wroclaw court rejected the deal, saying it was too lenient. The case is now back with the prosecution.

"The court found that there was strong evidence that there was an attempt of sabotage and that foreign intelligence was behind this sabotage," said Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, adding: "I have information that the Russian Federation is behind sabotage attempts in Poland and allied countries. In connection with this, we withdrew our consent to the functioning of the Russian consulate in Poznan."

Moscow said it would retaliate against the decision, with Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova calling the move "another hostile step" and promising a "painful" response.

Russia has two more consulates in Poland; one in the northern city of Gdansk and one in the southern city of Krakow.

The United States will contribute about one-third of a G7 loan to Ukraine that will be financed by the interest on frozen Russian assets, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen confirmed on Tuesday.

Several hours after the European Parliament voted in favor of a €35 billion ($37.8 billion) credit (see earlier), Yellen said Washington was "very close to finalizing America's portion of this loan package." She added that there was still a small amount of work to do, but said: "We expect to be able to contribute $20 billion."

With economic issues at the front of US voters' minds ahead of November's presidential election, and Republican candidate Donald Trump campaigning on the cost to American taxpayers of Washington's support for Ukraine, Yellen was at pains to emphasize that "Russia is paying for this support," not the United States.

Confirmation of the loan, to which the United Kingdom is also contributing £2.26 billion (€2.71 billion, $2.93 billion), is expected by the end of the week, at which point Yellen said the US would also be announcing new sanctions against supporters of Russia's ongoing invasion.

The United Nations said the population in Ukraine has declined by about 8 million people since Russia launched its invasion in February 2022.

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) said that, though there had been no census, there had been a clear decline in population in Ukraine.

"Overall, Ukraine's population has declined by an estimated 10 million since 2014 and by an estimated eight million since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022," the UNFPA's regional director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Florence Bauer, said in comments sent to journalists.

The agency said Ukraine’s population stood at about 45 million in 2014, when Russia began occupying the Crimean Peninsula.

The population currently stands at about 35 million people, according to a combination of government and UNFPA data.

Bauer said Ukraine already had one of the lowest birth rates in Europe, but Russia's invasion had led to an exodus, with many young people leaving.

EU lawmakers on Tuesday backed a plan to use frozen Russian assets to lend Ukraine up to €35 billion ($38 billion).

The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor, with 518 votes for the measures to 56 against and 61 abstentions.

The assets were frozen shortly after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal thanked the European Parliament on Tuesday for approving the plan.

"This critical contribution from the EU is part of the G7's $50 billion loan ... It will help address Ukraine's urgent financing needs in the face of Russia's brutal full-scale war," he said on X.

South Korea said it would consider supplying Ukraine with weapons as part of a response following reports that North Korea has sent troops to fight for Russia.

"We would consider supplying weapons for defensive purposes as part of the step-by-step scenarios, and if it seems they are going too far, we might also consider offensive use," the presidential official told reporters.

South Korean officials in recent days said  North Korea had shipped 1,500 special forces personnel to Russia's Far East for training.

South Korea's UN representative, Hwang Joon-Kook, said Seoul "will mobilize various means to address this major development in full cooperation with its allies and friends."

"Russia may be in a desperate military situation, but even so bringing in the forces of another country, especially from a notorious rogue state, is exceedingly dangerous," Hwang said. "It is hard to believe that a permanent member of the security council would take such a gamble and shift the course of the war," Hwang added.

North Korea has denied the reports.

"As for the so-called military cooperation with Russia, my delegation does not feel any need for comment on such groundless stereotyped rumors," a North Korean representative said at a committee meeting during the UN General Assembly.

A drone strike by Ukraine has killed one person in the occupied city of Energador, according to a Russia-installed official. 

The city is home to Europe's largest nuclear power plant and is situated in southern Ukraine on the occupied bank of the Dnipro River.

"As a result of a drone attack by the enemy on Energodar, a cylinder tanker caught fire," Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russia-installed head of the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region, wrote on Telegram.

It fell into Russian hands shortly after the invasion began in February 2022 and has regularly been at the center of reports of safety violations by both sides.

At least three people have been killed in an overnight Russian attack in Ukraine's eastern Sumy region.

"Three people, including one child, died as a result of a nighttime attack by enemy drones on residential buildings," regional authorities said.

Authorities went on to say that more than two dozen Iranian-designed attack drones were downed over the region.

The air force meanwhile said 60 drones had been detected in Ukrainian airspace and 42 were destroyed.

Sumy is situated directly across the border from Kursk in Russia and has been under continuous Russian bombardment since the start of Moscow's invasion.

Ukrainian forces launched a major offensive in Kursk in August and managed to capture large swathes of territory.

Chinese President Xi Jinping was on his way on Tuesday to the BRICS summit in Russia's Kazan, state news agency Xinhua reported. 

The Chinese leader is expected to individually meet with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, at the summit. 

China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a regular press briefing on Monday that this year's summit would focus on the expanded BRICS.  

Xi and Putin are close allies. China and Russia described their ties as having "no limits," shortly before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Western leaders have urged Xi to use his influence on the Russian president to end the war in Ukraine.

On Monday, Lin reiterated China's stance on Russia's war in Ukraine. 

"China's position on the Ukraine crisis is consistent and clear. We hope that all parties will work for de-escalation and be committed to political settlement," he said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said early on Tuesday that he had departed for the BRICS summit in Russia's southwestern city of Kazan. 

"India attaches immense importance to BRICS, and I look forward to extensive discussions on a wide range of subjects. I also look forward to meeting various leaders there," he said. 

In a slightly longer press release, Modi also made reference to his visit to Moscow in July this year and said he hoped to further deepen bilateral ties. 

"Building upon the Annual Summit held in July 2024 in Moscow, my visit to Kazan will further reinforce the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between India and Russia," the statement from Modi's office said. 

Modi also visited Kyiv in late August. In both countries, he expressed a willingness to help broker any potential negotiations or efforts to stop the conflict.  

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, India has maintained economic ties with Moscow, and began purchasing more Russian oil at a discount after Western sanctions closed off other markets. 

Despite accusations of funding Putin's war machine, New Delhi justified the increase in oil purchases by citing India's traditional "stable and friendly" ties with Moscow.

India has maintained a neutral position on the Ukraine war, and has not condemned Russia's invasion outright, while trying to balance strong ties with Ukraine's allies in the West. 

During a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in August, Modi stressed that his government championed respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry criticized UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for his reported plan to attend the talks in Kazan, after he skipped Kyiv's summit seeking a way to end the war with Russia.

"The UN Secretary-General declined Ukraine's invitation to the first global peace summit in Switzerland," Kyiv's Foreign Ministry wrote online.

"He did, however, accept the invitation to Kazan from war criminal Putin. This is a wrong choice that does not advance the cause of peace. It only damages the UN's reputation." 

However, it's not entirely clear whether Guterres will attend in Kazan this week.

Russian officials said earlier this month that the UN chief had told Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that he would be in Kazan. 

But deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters on Monday that Guterres' future travel plans were not yet set. 

Ukraine's "peace summit" in Switzerland in June involved representatives of dozens of countries, but perhaps crucially, none from Russia. Moscow denounced it as meaningless.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's government has invited two dozen world leaders to Kazan for a summit of the recently expanded BRICS grouping that starts on Tuesday and is set to last for three days.

Russia's major international partners like Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are scheduled to join the summit.

The acronym BRICS stands for the five countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, a grouping of emerging economies that is fashioned as an alternative to the Western-led economic order epitomized by the Group of 7 (G7) wealthy western countries. 

The group decided at its 2023 summit to try to expand its ranks. 

Argentina, Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia were all invited to join, although Argentine President Javier Milei declined after winning the election, saying he wanted to take more of a pro-Western course.

The Kremlin likely hopes the meeting in Kazan will show that any political isolation of Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine does not extend far past NATO's borders. 

jsi,dvv/wmr (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)