Ukraine-Russia war live: Zelensky urges Trump to back Kyiv as Kremlin reacts to win

The Kremlin has responded cautiously following Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election.

Officials suggested that while Trump’s rhetoric on ending the Ukraine war was noteworthy, it remains to be seen if it will translate into tangible policy changes.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made clear that, despite Trump’s campaign promises to bring an end to the war in Ukraine, Russia viewed the US as an “unfriendly” state that remained deeply involved in the conflict.

“Let us not forget that we are talking about an unfriendly country, which is both directly and indirectly involved in a war against our state,” Mr Peskov told reporters, adding that Moscow would wait to see if Trump’s statements on Ukraine would result in concrete actions.

Despite the continued animosity, Russian state media during the election campaign showed a clear preference for Trump, suggesting some hope in Moscow that his administration could be more amenable to dialogue than the current one.

Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and a former Goldman Sachs banker with prior contacts to Trump’s team, said that a Trump presidency could offer a “new opportunity” for a reset in US-Russia relations.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has congratulated Donald Trump on his victory in the US presidential election, hoping for a “strong bipartisan support” his country in its fight against Russia.

It comes after concerns were voiced among Ukraine’s allies that US support for Ukraine could wane under a Trump presidency.

Mr Zelensky said: “I appreciate president Trump’s commitment to the ‘peace through strength’ approach in global affairs. This is exactly the principle that can practically bring just peace in Ukraine closer. I am hopeful that we will put it into action together.

“We look forward to an era of a strong United States of America under President Trump’s decisive leadership.

“We rely on continued strong bipartisan support for Ukraine in the United States. We are interested in developing mutually beneficial political and economic cooperation that will benefit both of our nations.

“Ukraine, as one of Europe’s strongest military powers, is committed to ensuring long-term peace and security in Europe and the transatlantic community with the support of our allies.

“I am looking forward to personally congratulating President Trump and discussing ways to strengthen Ukraine’s strategic partnership with the United States.”

North Korean troops were engaged in combat in Russia’s Kursk in recent days for the first time, two U.S. officials told Reuters.

One of the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said they took part in combat on 4 November.

The officials did not say whether there were any North Korean casualties and did not provide further details on the engagement.

Donald Trump is now likely to dial his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and tell him to “stop the war”, a top former American diplomat has said.

“I think he’s going to make a phone call to Putin as quickly as possible and tell Putin that he needs to stop the war, that the fighting has to stop, and that there has to be peace. And that will start a discussion about how that actually happens. And what I expect to happen is that Putin will have demands,” Kurt Volker, former US special representative for Ukraine negotiations, told The Kyiv Independent.

“Putin will say ‘I need this, I need this, I need this.’ And I think Trump will say ‘no, you stop the war.’ But I do think it happens quite quickly, I don’t think Trump wants to see this war continue once he’s actually in office,” Mr Volker said.

South Korea is not ruling out supplying Ukraine with weapons, following North Korea’s deployment of troops to support Russia in its war, president Yoon Suk Yeol said this morning.

North Korea’s involvement in the Ukraine war presented a threat to the South, as Pyongyang gets much-needed combat experience, which its military lacks, and gets rewarded by Moscow with sensitive military technology transfers, Mr Yoon said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said the first battles between the Ukrainian military and North Korean troops “open a new page in instability in the world” after his defence minister said a “small engagement” had taken place.

Mr Zelensky, in his nightly video address, thanked those in the world who, he said, had reacted to the dispatch of North Korean troops to Russia last month “not just with words … but who are preparing actions to support our defence”.

“The first battles with North Korean soldiers open a new page of instability in the world,” he said.

He said that Ukraine, acting with the rest of the world, had to “do everything so that this Russian step to expand the war with real escalation fails.”

Ukrainian defence minister Rustem Umerov confirmed in an interview with South Korean television that the first engagement had occurred with North Korean troops, an escalation in a conflict that began when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Nato secretary general Mark Rutte has called North Korea’s troops fighting in Europe a “turning point”, warning the world of a “deeply dangerous” moment.

“This dangerous expansion of the conflict escalates the war and demonstrates that our security is not regional, it is global,” he wrote for Politico.

“These deepening military and economic ties between a reckless Russia and an emboldened North Korea don’t just threaten Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific security, they are deeply dangerous for global security,” the Nato chief said.

Calling the Russian invasion ill-judged, Mr Rutte said: “On every front, Putin is failing to achieve his strategic objectives through this illegal and ill-judged war of aggression. While we seek a just and lasting end to the conflict, he’s only prolonging and expanding it.

“President Vladimir Putin’s litany of failures since starting this senseless war has only made Russia more reliant on its authoritarian friends in Asia: China, Iran and North Korea,” he said.

The training period before North Korean soldiers join the fight in Vladimir Putin’s invasion has been cut short, Kyiv says.

North Korean troops were expected to undergo a month’s training, Ukrainian defence minister Rustem Umerov said, but that “is now being shortened to… two weeks or one week so that they could get engagement in the battlefield”.

North Korean personnel will finish deploying within a few weeks once they complete training in the Russian Far East, experts have said.

A total of 15,000 troops could be deployed along northeastern, eastern and southeastern parts of the 1,000km (600-mile) frontline in Ukraine, according to Mr Umerov.

Russia has declined to acknowledge that North Korean troops are operating in its territory, but Putin last week did not deny reports of their presence. He said it was up to Russia how to implement its defence pact with Pyongyang.

The White House plans to rush billions of dollars in security assistance to Ukraine before president Joe Biden leaves office in January, sources said yesterday, hoping to shore up the government in Kyiv before president-elect Donald Trump’s 20 January inauguration.

The Biden administration aims to send at least $9bn in military aid to Ukraine.

“The administration plans to push forward… to put Ukraine in the strongest position possible” a senior administration official said on condition of anonymity, before its term ends in January.

Mr Trump has been critical of Biden’s assistance for Ukraine, fueling concern about the future of support for president Volodymyr Zelensky’s government under a Republican-controlled White House, Senate and possibly the House of Representatives.

South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol held a telephone call with US president-elect Donald Trump and discussed continuing close ties across all areas in security and economic fields, a senior South Korean official said today.

Both the leaders shared concerns over North Korea’s deployment of troops backing Russia in the war against Ukraine and Pyongyang’s continued military provocations including ballistic missile launches, the official told reporters.

“They shared the view they need to discuss these issues in person and agreed to meet at an early time once they are able to set a date and location,” Yoon’s deputy national security adviser, Kim Tae-hyo, said.

Mr Yoon congratulated Mr Trump on winning the presidency on the “Make America Great Again” slogan and said the success of the three-way cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the United States was due in part to the foundation laid by Trump’s first presidency, Mr Kim said.