Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday accused North Korea of ​​sending military personnel to the Russian army and again called for more support to prevent “a bigger war.” “We see an increasing alliance between Russia and regimes such as in North Korea,” Zelensky said in his late-night video address. “It’s no longer just about transferring weapons. It is actually about the transfer of people from North Korea to the occupying forces.” He added: “It is clear that under such circumstances our relationship with our partners must evolve. The front lines need more support. We are talking about more long-range capabilities for Ukraine and more sustainable supplies for our armed forces, rather than a simple list of military hardware.” Last week, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun said “there was a strong possibility” that North Korea could deploy troops to help Russia in its war with Ukraine. Kim also told a parliamentary hearing that news reports about North Korean military officers killed in a Ukrainian attack on territory controlled by Russian forces were likely true.

Joe Biden will visit Germany this week, government sources in Berlin said. German media said the US president would meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Friday for talks in Berlin, which are expected to cover Ukraine and the Middle East. Biden’s visit was originally scheduled to last four days, but Hurricane Milton forced it to be postponed, prompting Zelenskyy to tour European capitals to advocate for their continued support.

Russia’s announced changes to its nuclear weapons policy are long overdue and are likely to “cool the zeal” of its Western enemies, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said. in an interview released Sunday. Lukashenko, a close ally of Vladimir Putin, said “hotheads” in the West had heard Moscow’s nuclear signals even before the Kremlin leader announced the changes last month. Putin said last month that Russia was expanding the list of scenarios that could prompt the country to launch a nuclear weapon. He said Moscow would consider any attack on it, backed by a nuclear force, as a joint attack.

Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman has urged international organizations to respond to claims that several Ukrainian prisoners of war have been executed in Russia’s Kursk region. where Kiev had launched an incursion in August. Dmytro Lubinets said on Telegram that he has sent letters to the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross about the claim. Ukrainian battlefield analysis site DeepState, which is close to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, said on Sunday that Russian forces shot dead nine Ukrainian “drone operators and contractors” on October 10 after they surrendered. Earlier this month, Ukraine’s attorney general said Russian forces had killed 16 captured Ukrainian soldiers in the partially occupied Donetsk region.

Russian glide bombs have hit a “concentration” of Ukrainian troops near the border of Russia’s western Kursk region, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday. It said the attack targeted “a stronghold and concentration of personnel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” and that the bombs were delivered by a Russian Su-34 fighter jet. Ukraine surprised Moscow on August 6 by crossing the border into the Kursk region, in the first invasion of Russian sovereign territory since World War II. Russia has been trying to expel Ukrainian forces from the country for more than two months.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Sunday its forces have taken control of the village of Mykhailivka in eastern Ukraine, where they are advancing towards the key logistics hub of Pokrovsk. The Ukrainian military said in its daily report that its forces repelled 36 Russian attacks in the Pokrovsk area, including near Mykhailivka.

Russia launched 68 drones and four missiles last night targeting Ukrainian territory, the Ukrainian air force said on Sunday. Two Iskander-M ballistic missiles hit the Poltava and Odesa regions and two Kh-59 guided air missiles targeted the Chernihiv and Sumy regions, the air force said in the Telegram messaging app. Ukrainian air defense units destroyed 31 of the drones, while 36 were missing and most likely intercepted by Ukraine’s electronic warfare forces, the air force said. The remaining drone was still in the air, the report said.

Russian air defense units destroyed 13 Ukrainian drones overnight over three regions bordering Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday. Six drones each were downed over the Belgorod and Kursk regions, the ministry said via messaging app Telegram. One drone was destroyed over the Bryansk region.