Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address on Monday that Russia is preparing to deploy an additional North Korean contingent on its territory and has received more ballistic missiles from Pyongyang, arguing that Moscow can no longer wage war against Ukraine on its own. The Ukrainian president said, “For the first time in its history, Russia cannot wage war without reinforcements from North Korea.”
Zelensky said the implications went beyond Ukraine, warning that North Korea would pose a “greater danger” to Japan, South Korea and the Philippines as it gains combat experience and improves its weapons through cooperation with Russia. He said strengthening Ukraine’s air defence was also a way to reduce Pyongyang’s incentive to use the war to learn how to fight.
His remarks came after one of Ukraine’s deepest and deadliest drone strikes inside Russia. On Monday, drones hit industrial and civilian targets in Nizhnekamsk and the Taneco oil refinery in Tatarstan, about 680 miles from the border with Ukraine, killing at least 13 people, including seven Uzbek citizens and one child.
Radmir Belayev, the mayor of Nizhnekamsk, said on Telegram that a period of mourning had been declared in the region. The Uzbek consulate in Kazan confirmed that seven Uzbek citizens were among those killed, though it did not immediately provide further details about the victims.
In another overnight attack, one person was killed and two others were injured in Russia’s Voronezh region, Governor Alexander Gusev said on Tuesday. He said Russian air defence units destroyed 15 drones over the city of Voronezh and five districts of the region, while falling debris caused fires at two warehouses covering 16,000 square meters and 20,000 square meters.
Gusev did not identify the company affected, but earlier on Tuesday online retailer Wildberries said its logistics facilities in the Voronezh region had been evacuated in line with safety requirements. Emergency services were deployed to both warehouse sites.
Inside Ukraine, Russian attacks also caused casualties on Tuesday. In the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, five people were killed and 20 injured after Russian forces used missiles and aerial bombs, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said, while images showed buildings and vehicles on fire.
Russian forces also attacked Kyiv with missiles early on Tuesday, triggering fires in warehouses in a central district and injuring one person, city officials said. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said medical personnel had been dispatched, and the air raid alert remained in effect for about 40 minutes before the all-clear was given.
Separately, the Ukrainian Air Force said on Monday that a MiG-29 fighter jet was lost during a combat mission in the southern region of Odesa after catching fire during a missile launch. The pilot ejected safely, was taken to hospital, and the cause of the incident is under investigation.
Beyond the battlefield, Zelensky said he discussed a drone deal and food security with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday, following a military cooperation agreement signed in March. Elsewhere, Sweden’s SAPO said it had broken up a Russian spy operation linked to the SVR, while in Russia the supreme court barred the anti-war party Yabloko from running its federal slate in the State Duma election, prompting protests by about 500 supporters outside the courthouse.
In a separate regional development, Syria’s foreign ministry said Russian forces would hand over control of the Hmeimem air base and the Tartus naval base, which would be turned into joint training centres under a new bilateral agreement. The move marks a significant shift in Moscow’s military presence in the eastern Mediterranean after the fall of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.
