Ukraine updates: US calls on North Korea to withdraw troops

Both the United States and South Korea have called for the withdrawal of North Korean troops they say are currently stationed in Russia.

Pyongyang has so far denied sending troops to Russia, but its vice foreign minister has said that such a deployment would be in line with global norms if it were to happen.

Meanwhile, at least one child has been killed and dozens of other people injured in a Russian strike on an apartment building in Kharkiv.

Rescue operations have been complicated, as there is a threat the building may collapse, according to local officials.

Here is a roundup of developments regarding Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, October 31:

10/31/2024October 31, 2024

Russian bomb hits apartment block in Kharkiv

A Russian guided bomb struck a high-rise apartment block in Ukraine's second largest city, Kharkiv, on Wednesday, killing two including a child and injuring at least 34 people, officials said.

Governor Oleg Synegubov took to messaging platform Telegram, saying the boy who died had turned 12 in September and that another 15-year-old boy was under the rubble. 

Synegubov said that rescue operations are ongoing but the search was complicated due to the significant damage to the building and the threat of the structure collapsing. 

Before that, the city's mayor Igor Terekhov said that people were trapped in the upper floors of the building. 

Unverified videos circulating on social media showed a gaping hole in the facade of the building. Meanwhile Reuters Television footage showed rescue teams picking their way through piles of concrete and other materials extract the injured.

On Wednesday evening, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Ukraine's western allies to act in response to the strike. "Every decision they delay means at least dozens or even hundreds of such Russian bombs against Ukraine. Their decisions mean the lives of our people," he said on Telegram. 

Zelenskyy has time and again asked Western countriesto provide Ukraine with better defense equipment, including long-range weapons. 

Kharkiv lies close to the Russian border and is one of the key battlegrounds in Russia's war in Ukraine.

While it has remained in Ukraine's hands, the city has been severely pounded by Russian aerial attacks in the two-and-a-half years of the war. 

10/31/2024October 31, 2024

US, S.Korea urge North Korea to withdraw troops from Russia

The US and South Korea have urged North Korea to withdraw its troops from Russia.

Washington claims that around 10,000 North Korean troops have been deployed in Russia, ready for action against Ukrainian forces as Moscow pursues its full-scale invasion of its neighbor.

Moscow and Pyongyang have deepened their alliance as the Ukraine war has dragged on, but sending North Korean troops to fight against Kyiv's forces would represent a significant escalation that has sparked concern in the West.

"I call upon them to withdraw their troops out of Russia," US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, echoing a call by his South Korean counterpart Kim Yong-hyun, who stood alongside him as he addressed reporters.

Austin said the US will "continue to work with allies and partners to discourage Russia from employing these troops in combat."

Nevertheless, there is a "good likelihood" that Moscow will still do just that, according to Austin.

South Korea's Kim said that Seoul's longstanding policy that it will not provide weapons to Ukraine remains in place, despite calls from Washington and Kyiv to reconsider.

The Kremlin's UN envoy Vassily Nebenzia said any claims that Pyongyang's forces were present on the front lines were "mere assertions."

tj,mk/kb (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)