Ukraine-Russia battle newest: Putin accused of ‘violating rules’ as two Russian oil tankers wrecked close to Crimea

Russia has deployed North Korean soldiers in significant numbers for the first time to support its offensive in Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky said.

The Ukrainian president said North Korean troops are reportedly being used in assaults on Ukrainian forces defending an enclave in Russia’s Kursk region.

“Today, we already have preliminary data that the Russians have begun to use North Korean soldiers in their assaults. A significant number of them,” Mr Zelensky said during his nightly wartime address.

Namita Singh reports.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky says his country could provide food aid to Syria from its “Grain from Ukraine” programme.

“Now we can help the Syrians with Ukrainian wheat, flour and our oil – our products that are used worldwide to ensure food security,” Mr Zelensky said.

More than a million Syrians have been displaced since armed rebels began a lightning offensive that eventually forced president Bashar al-Assad out of the country, ending his family’s 50-year rule.

A major Russian oil depot was set ablaze after Ukrainian troops launched a “massive drone attack” over 100 miles inside Russian territory.

The Stalnoy Kon oil refinery, part of Vladimir Putin’s “military industrial complex” that supplies Russian troops, was struck overnight on Friday, Kyiv’s chief of staff said.

The Russian governor of Oryol said on Telegram that fuel had caught fire at “a facility” in the region after the “massive drone attack”.

Russian media reported images, purportedly of the attack, showing clouds of smoke billowing up into the night sky from a fire.

A Ukrainian drone struck a campus of Russia’s National Guard in Chechnya, some 800km southeast of the front line in Ukraine, according to reports.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov confirmed the drone strike, saying it hit a site that belonged to the Akhmat Grozny riot police battalion.

He said two other drones were shot down by Russian air defences.

The Russian defence ministry yesterday said it downed 15 Ukrainian drones overnight over Kursk and Belgorod regions.

The Ukrainian navy has criticised Russia for sending old vessels into choppy waters after a tanker sank and another sustained severe damage during a storm in the Black Sea.

The Volgoneft 212 tanker, with 15 people on board, split in half and spilled oil into the Kerch Strait, located between mainland Russia and annexed Crimea.

Dmytro Pletenchuk, Ukraine’s navy spokesperson, said: “These are quite old Russian tankers. You can’t go to sea in such a storm. The Russians violated the operating rules. The result is an accident.”

A Russian oil tanker carrying thousands of tonnes of oil products split apart during a heavy storm yesterday, spilling oil into the Kerch Strait, while another tanker was also in distress after sustaining damage, Russian officials said.

The vessels were in the Kerch Strait between mainland Russia and Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, when they issued distress signals.

Russian investigators opened two criminal cases to look into possible safety violations after at least one person was killed when the 136-metre Volgoneft 212 tanker, with 15 people on board, split in half with its bow sinking.

The Russian-flagged vessel, built in 1969, was damaged and had run aground, officials said.

The second Russian-flagged ship, the 132-metre Volgoneft 239, was drifting after sustaining damage, Russian officials said. It has a crew of 14 people and was built in 1973.

Ukraine’s security service said it had launched an operation to destroy 40 rail cars carrying fuel to Russian troops in an area of the Zaporizhzhia region Moscow holds in southern Ukraine.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) claimed the operation involved different intelligence and military services and unfolded over a series of stages.“The aim was to disrupt the logistical supply routes for fuel from Crimea to temporarily occupied areas of Zaporizhzhia,” it told Reuters.

Russia has so far not commented on the alleged incident.

The SBU said one of its units organised a sabotage operation that damaged a rail line as the train was moving near the village of Oleksiivka in a Russian-held part of Zaporizhzhia region.

The train was halted, with tanker cars ablaze, and army units fired US-supplied HIMARS missiles at the site. “The missiles struck the locomotive and cars at the end of the train. The enemy was unable to reach the tanks and salvage some of the fuel,” the statement said.

Russia has launched hundreds of bombs, drones and missiles at Ukraine over the past week, according to President President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In a post on X this morning, he said: “This week alone, Russia has used nearly 630 guided aerial bombs, around 550 strike drones, and over 100 missiles of various types against Ukraine.

“I am grateful to the warriors defending Ukraine and to our partners who understand our need to bolster Ukraine’s air defenses to save the lives of our people.

“Now, the world must be united and stronger than ever. Only through strength can we together force Russia and its allies to give up terror and achieve a just peace.”