US accuses North Korea of ​​providing artillery to Russia for conflict in Ukraine

North Korea may be shipping cargo through other countries, the US said.

A “significant number” of artillery shells were said to have been secretly shipped to Russia to support North Korea’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the White House on Wednesday.

According to National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, the United States believes North Korea is “trying to make it look as if it is being shipped to countries in the Middle East or North Africa.” He refused to give the exact amount of ammunition being sent to support Russia’s efforts.

According to Kirby, the ammunition is being “secretly” supplied to Russia from North Korea, but that they are “monitoring to see if the shipment actually arrives.”

Kirby noted that the West is seeking to support Ukrainian forces, stressing that North Korean supplies “do not affect the direction of the battle.”

The White House declined to say how the shipments to Russia would be transported or whether the United States or other countries would try to stop them.

Ukraine is in turmoil, new deaths reported

Thousands of households in the Kyiv region and elsewhere in Ukraine were still without electricity on Wednesday as attacks by Russian drones and artillery continued to target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, officials said.

Kyiv region governor Oleksiy Kukheva reported that a drone strike on the energy infrastructure of the Cherkasy region, south of the capital, caused power outages, with 16,000 homes shutting down.

Kyiv’s water and electricity have been restored, but Kleba has not ruled out power shortages for “weeks” if Russian forces continue to target the city’s energy facilities. He said Russian soldiers were trying to create a serious humanitarian situation in a Telegram post.

Dnipropetrovsk Governor Valentin Reznichenko said power outages were also recorded in the southern cities of Nikopol and Chervonov-Hrikhorivka as a result of a “massive drone attack.”

Europe’s largest nuclear facility, the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant, is located between the two cities across the Dnipro River. Russia and Ukraine have been blamed for months for the bombings at and near the facility, which the United Nations nuclear watchdog warned could result in a radioactive disaster.

At least four civilians were killed and 17 wounded between Tuesday and Wednesday in ongoing Russian artillery shelling in nine districts in southern and eastern Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s presidential office of Volodymyr Zelensky.

Seven people were injured in villages and cities northeast of Kharkiv that Ukraine recaptured last month.

A hospital and residential complex in Tretsk, a city in the Donetsk region, was devastated by a fire in Russia. According to Donetsk governor Pablo Kirilenko, Russian and Ukrainian forces are still fighting for control of the cities of Avdiuka and Bakhmut.

In preparation for a major Ukrainian military onslaught to recapture the capital of the southern Ukraine of the same name, authorities in the Russian-occupied Kherson region evacuated residents to Russian territory 90 kilometers away. rice field.

A deal that would allow Ukrainian grain and other commodities to enter international markets was rescued by diplomatic efforts after Russia announced Wednesday it would back the deal. Russia threatened to scrap the deal last weekend, claiming Ukrainian drones attacked the Black Sea Fleet in Crimea. Some Ukrainian officials claimed it was the result of improper use of their own weapons by Russian forces, but Ukraine did not.

To ensure that grain and other goods from the Black Sea region reach parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia during the now eight-month-long Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the United Nations and Turkey have separated from Russia and Ukraine. negotiated an agreement. July.

Russia and Ukraine are important international exporters of food to emerging countries, including wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other products, where many people are already starving. Before the cereals deal, these supply losses led to higher food prices, tens of millions of people living in poverty, and higher energy prices.

According to the United Nations, the cereals deal has cut global food prices by 15% from their peak in March.