N. Korea fires another missile, flies warplanes near border
North Korea early Friday launched a short-range ballistic missile toward its eastern waters and flew warplanes near the border with South Korea, further raising animosities triggered by the North’s recent barrage of weapons tests.
South Korea’s military also said it detected North Korea firing about 170 rounds of artillery from eastern and western coastal areas near the border region and that the shells fell inside maritime buffer zones the Koreas established under a 2018 military agreement on reducing tensions, Associated Press reported.
The North Korean moves suggest it would keep up a provocative run of weapons tests designed to bolster its nuclear capability for now. Some experts say North Korea would eventually want the United States and others to accept it as a nuclear state, lifting economic sanctions and making other concessions.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement the missile lifted off from the North’s capital region at 1:49 a.m. Friday (1649 GMT Thursday; 12:49 p.m. EDT Thursday).
While none of the North Korean artillery shells fell inside South Korean territorial waters, the Joint Chiefs of Staff described the firings as a clear violation of the 2018 agreement, which created buffer zones along land and sea boundaries and no-fly zones above the border to prevent clashes.
Friday’s ballistic launch extended a record number of missile demonstrations by North Korea this year as it exploits the distraction created by Russia’s war on Ukraine to accelerate its arms development and increase pressure on Washington and its Asian allies.
In response to North Korea’s intensifying testing activity and hostility, South Korea on Friday imposed unilateral sanctions on the North for the first time in five years, targeting 15 North Korean individuals and 16 organizations suspected of involvement in illicit activities to finance North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile program.
Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said the missile flew on an “irregular” trajectory — a possible reference to describe the North’s highly maneuverable KN-23 weapon modeled on Russia’s Iskander missile, according to Associated Press.
“Whatever the intentions are, North Korea’s repeated ballistic missile launches are absolutely impermissible and we cannot overlook its substantial advancement of missile technology,” Hamada said. “North Korea’s series of actions pose threats to Japan, as well as the region and the international community, and are absolutely intolerable.”
The South Korean and Japanese militaries assessed that the missile traveled 650 to 700 kilometers (403-434 miles) at a maximum altitude of 50 kilometers (30 miles) before landing in waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement the North Korean launch didn’t pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, or to its allies, adding that the U.S. commitments to the defense of South Korea and Japan remain “ironclad.”
It was the latest in a series of missile launches by North Korea in recent weeks, Associated Press reported.
Ukraine demands Red Cross visits notorious prison
Ukrainian officials have urged the Red Cross to conduct a mission to a notorious prison camp in the Russia-occupied east of the country, BBC reported.
The Ukrainian president's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, demanded that the Red Cross (ICRC) visit the Olenivka prison in Donetsk within three days.
"We just can't waste more time. Human lives are at stake", he tweeted.
Last month, the Red Cross tried to secure access to the camp, but said it was denied by Russian authorities.
The Olenivka prison has been under the control of Russian-backed authorities in Donetsk since 2014, and conditions are said to be extremely poor.
In July, dozens of Ukrainian prisoners were killed in rocket attacks at the camp, which both sides blamed on each other. Kyiv said the prison was targeted by Russia to destroy evidence of torture and killing, while Moscow blamed Ukrainian rockets.
He has demanded the trip be made by Monday.
"Ukraine... will contribute to this mission in every possible way," he said on Telegram, adding he didn't understand why a mission to inspect Olenivka had not yet been arranged.
President Volodymyr Zelensky echoed the calls, and accused the Red Cross of inaction, saying it "obligations, primarily of a moral nature".
In his nightly address on Thursday, Mr Zelensky said he believed that the Red Cross is "not a club with privileges where one receives a salary and enjoys life."
"But it requires leadership," Mr Zelensky said in a thinly veiled criticism of the Red Cross. "The Red Cross can make it happen. But you have to try to make it happen."
The ICRC has been contacted for comment.
Last month, the organisation's Director-General Robert Mardini said talks were ongoing with Russian authorities about access to Olenivka - but were eventually denied.
"We are negotiating every day to have full access to all prisoners of war," he told reporters. "It is clearly an absolute obligation [of] the parties to give the ICRC access to all prisoners of war."
Also in his Thursday address President Zelensky said Ukraine would celebrate its Defenders Day on Friday, which was made a national holiday in 2014 after Russia's invasion of Crimea, BBC reported.
France sends Germany gas for first time amid Russia energy crisis
France has sent gas to Germany for the first time in "European solidarity" amid increasing energy pressures, BBC reported.
The gas, delivered via a pipeline, is part of a deal between the countries to ease energy shortfalls after Russian turned off the taps to Europe.
Though the new flow is less than 2% of Germany's daily needs, it is welcome as Berlin battles to diversify its energy.
Russia has been accused of using gas supplies as a weapon against the West since the invasion of Ukraine.
French grid operator, GRTgaz, said it would initially deliver 31 gigawatt hours (GWh) per day, via a pipeline from the French border village of Obergailbach.
Kherson: Russia to evacuate civilians from occupied region as Ukraine advances
The Russian-installed leader of Ukraine's southern Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, has called on civilians to evacuate - citing daily rocket attacks by advancing Ukrainian forces, BBC reported.
He urged them to "save themselves" by going to Russia for "leisure and study", and asked for Moscow's help.
His call was later backed up by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin in a message on state television.
Ukraine rejects accusations that it targets its own civilians.
Its troops have recently retaken some areas of north-western Kherson, closing in on the regional capital, Kherson city.
"The government took the decision to organise assistance for the departure of residents of the [Kherson] region to other regions of the country," said Mr Khusnullin, who has special responsibility for southern Russia and Crimea.
"We will provide everyone with free accommodation and everything necessary."The first group of people from Kherson would arrive on Friday in Russia's Rostov region, said its governor Vasily Golubev according to Russian state news agency, Tass.
"The Rostov region will accept and accommodate everyone who wants to come to us from the Kherson region," he added.
They have targeted key Russian-held military targets and threatened to cut off the bulk of the occupying forces on the west bank of the Dnieper river (known as Dnipro in Ukraine).
Kherson is the only regional capital seized by Russian forces since Moscow's invasion began on 24 February.
In other major developments on Thursday:
- All of Ukraine - with the exception of Crimea - was for some time under air raid alert, and Russian missile strikes were reported on energy and military targets in the Kyiv region and Lviv, in the west
- Two people were killed in shelling in the southern city of Mykolaiv, and dramatic footage showed a young boy being rescued from the rubble of a destroyed house, although he later died, officials said
- Both Kyiv and Moscow confirmed that 20 Ukrainian service personnel were exchanged for 20 Russian soldiers - in the latest such swap
- Russia accused Ukraine of hitting a residential building in the Russian border city of Belgorod
- Russian President Vladimir Putin met his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and proposed building a gas hub in Turkey as an alternative supply route to Europe following problems with the Nord Stream pipelines
- Nato said it would provide Ukraine with dozens of jammers - transmitters used to disrupt signals - to counteract Russian and Iranian drones. The head of the military alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, also said members had agreed to increase protection of critical infrastructure after what he called the "sabotage" of the Nord Stream pipelines
Speaking on Thursday, Mr Saldo said many towns in the region - including the two major cities of Kherson and Nova Kakhovka - were now under daily rocket attacks by Ukrainian troops.
"Such strikes are causing serious damage," he said, urging residents across the whole region - and especially those on the west bank of the Dnieper river - to evacuate to Russia or Crimea, BBC reported.
And he appealed to the government in Moscow to help organise the process. "Russia is not abandoning its people," he stressed, using a popular saying.
