Speaking a day after the French president, Emmanuel Macron, announced still-vague plans for a package of support for Ukraine backed by 26 nations, Putin on Friday said any guarantees that involved boots on the ground would violate Moscow's longstanding objections to Nato troops in Ukraine. Therefore, if some troops appear there, especially now, during military operations, we proceed from the fact that these will be legitimate targets for destruction, Putin told an economic forum in Vladivostok.
South Korea's spy agency estimates that some 2,000 soldiers deployed by North Korea to fight for Russia have been killed, a South Korean lawmaker has said. In April, South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) said at least 600 North Koreans had been killed in Russia's war in Ukraine. But after a briefing with the spy agency on Tuesday, Lee Seong-kweun told reporters the latest figures indicate that around 2,000 soldiers sent by Pyongyang have died.