N.Korea Flies Warplanes Near S.Korea After Missile Launches
HYUNG-JIN KIM and KIM TONG-HYUNG | The Associated Press
North Korea flew 12 warplanes near its border with South Korea on Thursday, prompting the South to scramble 30 military aircraft in response, Seoul officials said. The highly unusual incident came hours after North Korea fired two ballistic missiles into the sea in its sixth round of missile tests in less than two weeks. Eight North Korean fighter jets and four bombers flew in formation and were believed to have conducted air-to-surface firing drills, South Korea’s military said. The military said South Korea responded by scrambling 30 fighter jets and other warplanes, though they didn’t engage in any clash with the North Korean aircraft.
U.S. Accuses China, Russia of Enabling North Korea's Kim Jong Un
Michelle Nichols | Reuters
The United States accused China and Russia on Wednesday of enabling North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by protecting Pyongyang from attempts to strengthen U.N. Security Council sanctions imposed over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. "The DPRK (North Korea) has enjoyed blanket protection from two members of this council," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said. "In short, two permanent members of the Security Council have enabled Kim Jong Un."
Ukraine Leader Says Putin Wouldn’t Survive Nuclear Attack
Rod McGuirk | Associated Press
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday it was “hard to say” whether the risk of nuclear war had increased with his military’s territorial gains, but he remains confident his Russian counterpart would not survive such as escalation in hostilities…“He understands that after the use of nuclear weapons he would be unable any more to preserve, so to speak, his life, and I’m confident of that,” Zelensky said.
Poland Suggests Hosting US Nuclear Weapons Amid Growing Fears of Putin’s Threats
Julian Borger | The Guardian
Poland says it has asked to have US nuclear weapons based on its territory, amid growing fears that Vladimir Putin could resort to using nuclear arms in Ukraine to stave off a rout of his invading army.The request from the Polish president, Andrzej Duda, is widely seen as symbolic, as moving nuclear warheads closer to Russia would make them more vulnerable and less militarily useful, according to experts. Furthermore, the White House has said it had not received such a request. “We’re not aware of this issue being raised and would refer you to the government of Poland,” a US official said.
Putin Asserts Control Over Ukraine Nuclear Plant, Kyiv Disagrees
Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his government on Wednesday to take control of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, as the U.N. nuclear watchdog warned that power supply to the site was "extremely fragile". However, the boss of Ukraine's state energy agency announced he was taking over the plant, which has become a focus of international concern due to the possibility of a nuclear disaster after shelling in the area for which Moscow and Kyiv have blamed each other.
The Nuclear Option
Carole Landry | The New York Times
Despite Putin’s repeated threats to use nuclear weapons, U.S. officials say he is discovering that they are hard to use, harder to control and far better for intimidation than for war. Experts think the possibility of a strike remains low, but have not ruled it out as part of a last-ditch effort to halt a Ukrainian counteroffensive by threatening to make parts of Ukraine uninhabitable.