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(LONDON) — Ukrainian special forces claimed on Monday to have inflicted more than 100 casualties among North Korean forces over three days of operations.

Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces branch claimed in a post to its official Telegram channel that 77 North Koreans were killed and 40 wounded in recent fighting.

On Sunday, the SSO posted photos of what it said were North Korean troops killed in Russia’s western Kursk region. The SSO also uploaded photos of purportedly fabricated Russian military identity cards. ABC News was not immediately able to independently verify the images.

“Russia is trying to hide the presence of military personnel from North Korea by issuing them with fake documents,” the SSO wrote.

It added that the documents “do not have all the seals, photographs, the patronymics are given in the Russian manner and the place of birth is signed as the Republic of Tuva,” the home region of Sergei Shoigu — formerly Russia’s defense minister and now the secretary of the Security Council.

The SSO said the signatures of the document owners were written in Korean, which it said “indicates the real origin of these soldiers.”

U.S., South Korean and Ukrainian officials have said there are currently up to 12,000 North Korean soldiers inside Russia, deployed there primarily to help push Kyiv’s forces out of positions taken in Russia’s western Kursk region since August 2024.

Ukrainian military sources told ABC News in November that North Koreans were expected to be among the 50,000 troops arrayed for a major counter-offensive in Kursk.

The deployment of troops marks a new milestone in North Korean support for Russia’s war, Pyongyang already having supplied Moscow with ammunition and weapons — including ballistic missiles — since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this month that Kyiv has “preliminary data that the Russians have begun to use North Korean soldiers in their assaults — a significant number of them.”

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Directorate of Intelligence, meanwhile, has reported “significant casualties” among North Korean troops deployed on the front lines alongside Russian units.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Monday that Seoul expects Pyongyang to send more troops and equipment to Russia.

“North Korea is preparing to rotate or increase the deployment of troops [in Russia], while currently supplying 240mm rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled artillery,” said South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, as quoted by Yonhap.

“There are also some signs of [the North] moving to manufacture and supply suicide drones,” the JCS said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a drone production and test facility in November. Then, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said Kim “underscored the need to build a serial production system as early as possible and go into full-scale mass production.”

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(LONDON) —  At least five people, including a 9-year-old, are now known to have been killed in the vehicle-ramming attack on a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg on Friday, German officials said Saturday. The four other victims killed in the attack were adults, according to police.

At least 200 more people were injured when a car plowed into festive market-goers in the eastern German city, around 75 miles west of the capital Berlin, according to Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt Reiner Haseloff.

The Magdeburg Christmas market will be closed for the remainder of the season, police told reporters Saturday.

At least 41 of those injured in the attack are in serious condition, according to police. Their lives are still thought to be in danger, according to Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

A suspect — a doctor from Saudi Arabia aged around 50 — was arrested, Haselhoff said. The man has lived in Germany since 2006. A rental car was used in the attack, the minister said.

He will be charged with 5 counts of murder and grievous bodily harm, according to police.

The first emergency call came in at 7:02 p.m. local time and the driver was stopped within three minutes of the attack, according to a police official. Police believe the suspect entered via the space left open for emergency vehicles to access the area.

Police believe the suspect acted alone.

The prosecutor said they are still clarifying the motive behind the attack, but said that it’s possibly linked to “dissatisfaction with the treatment of refugees from Saudi Arabia and how they’ve been treated in Germany,” but they will “need more time” to determine this.

Police said the suspect has undergone physical and psychological exams but police do not yet have the results.

At Magdeburg Cathedral, a huge crowd gathered on Saturday inside and outside for a memorial service to the victims. Attendees included the mayor, Sholz and first responders.

Elsewhere in the city, a smaller crowd held an anti-immigrant protest with a sign that said “Remigration” and waved German flags, as well as flags of Imperial Germany and ones reading “Homeland.”

U.S. law enforcement sources told ABC News that German authorities are treating the attack as a terrorist incident.

“We send our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed and injured and to all those affected by this terrible incident,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

“We stand in solidarity with the people of Germany in grieving the loss of life. The United States is ready to provide assistance as recovery efforts continue and authorities investigate this horrible incident,” Miller’s statement continued.

Scholz offered his condolences to those affected. “My thoughts are with the victims and their families,” Scholz said in a statement. “We stand by their side and by the side of the people of Magdeburg. My thanks go to the dedicated rescue workers in these anxious hours.”

Friday’s ramming incident came almost exactly eight years after a similar terror attack at a Christmas market in the German capital. On Dec. 19, 2016, a man drove a truck into a crowd at a market in Berlin, killing 13 and injuring dozens.

U.S. law enforcement officials have warned of similar vehicle-ramming attacks on American soil, particularly over the festive season.

A joint threat assessment about New Year’s Eve in New York City’s Times Square, for example, noted the use of vehicle-ramming alone or in conjunction with other tactics “has become a recurring tactic employed by threat actors in the West.”

The NYPD, out of an abundance of caution, will surge resources to similar areas around the city, including Christmas markets, according to NYPD deputy commissioner for counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner.

“We know this is a very festive time, it is a busy time in the city, and we are going to make sure that all of our holiday markets, all of our holiday activities are protected by our counter weapons teams, by officers on patrol, all our counter-terrorism officers, our critical response command,” Weiner told ABC New York station WABC.

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(WASHINGTON) — Two U.S. Navy pilots ejected safely over the Red Sea after their F/A-18 fighter aircraft was mistakenly shot down early Sunday in what military officials are calling “an apparent case of friendly fire.”

One of the pilots has minor injuries, according to a news release from U.S. Central Command.

The guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, which is part of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, mistakenly fired on and hit the aircraft, that was flying off the USS Harry S. Truman, according to the news release.

The military said a full investigation is underway.

The U.S. Navy has been patrolling the region for over a year to combat ongoing attacks on commercial ships from the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.

Several hours earlier, the military said U.S forces conducted precision airstrikes against a missile storage facility and a command-and-control facility used by the Houthis and shot down multiple uncrewed aerial vehicles and an anti-ship cruise missile.

That operation involved the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy and included F/A-18 aircraft.

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(LONDON) —  Two Russian airports were put under flight restrictions early Saturday after authorities alleged an attack by Ukrainian drones, according to state-run news agencies.

The state-owned RIA Novosti agency reported that Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency announced a temporary block on landing and takeoff at Kazan International Airport and restrictions at Gagarin Airport in the city of Saratov — both in the southwest of the country.

Kazan is more than 600 miles from the closest Ukrainian-controlled territory. Saratov is more than 350 miles from Ukrainian-held territory.

The press service of the head of the Tatarstan region — of which Kazan is the largest city — said authorities recorded eight drones attacking the city, with no reported casualties, according to the state-run Tass news agency.

“One was at an industrial enterprise, one was over a river and six were at a residential area,” the press service said, as quoted by Tass.

Kazan Mayor Ilsur Metshin said that fires were reported in houses in three districts of the city and announced selective evacuation of schools where it was deemed necessary, Tass reported.

Tatarstan head Rustam Minnikhanov wrote on Telegram that the region was subjected to “a massive UAV attack.”

“All forces have been deployed,” Minnikhanov added. “The most important thing is not to panic. We have instructed the government to inform the population about evacuation sites in a timely manner.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it downed six Ukrainian drones over the city, which it said were “flying in three waves from different directions.” Three were shot down and three defeated using electronic warfare measures, the ministry said.

In total, the ministry said it shot down 19 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory.

Ukraine’s air force, meanwhile, said Russia launched 113 drones into Ukraine overnight, of which air defense teams shot down 57.

Another 56 went missing due to “active countermeasures” by Ukrainian defenders, the air force added.

Air raid sirens sounded across Ukraine on Saturday morning with the air force warning of a “threat of the use of ballistic weapons throughout the territory of Ukraine.”

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that the latest destroyed an oncology center in the southern city of Kherson and damaged apartment buildings in Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia. Kyiv was targeted by ballistic missiles, while Sumy, Kryvyi Rih, the Dnipropetrovsk region and the Donetsk regions all reported shelling.

Seven people were reported injured in Zaporizhzhia and six in Kharkiv, officials said.

“This is the Russian terror we are countering,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. “I am grateful to our partners who continue to stand with Ukraine and increase pressure on Russia. Together, through our collective strength, we will secure a lasting peace.”

Saturday’s attacks followed a combined missile and drone strike on Kyiv early on Friday, which the Kyiv City Military Administration said caused significant damage to buildings in the city center and killed at least one person.

The strike also damaged several foreign embassies, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tkhiyi told journalists on Friday. Tkhiyi described the attack as “barbaric.”

ABC News’ Natalya Kushnir, Anastasia Bagaeva and Victoria Beaule contributed to this report.

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(LONDON) — At least five people are now known to have been killed in the vehicle-ramming attack on a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg on Friday, the Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt Reiner Haseloff told journalists on Saturday.

Haseloff said that at least 200 more people were injured when a car plowed into festive market-goers in the eastern German city, around 75 miles west of the capital Berlin.

A young child and an adult were among those killed in the attack, according to Haseloff. At least 15 of those injured were seriously hurt, according to a local official.

A suspect — a doctor from Saudi Arabia aged around 50 — was arrested, Haselhoff said. The man has lived in Germany since 2006. A rental car was used in the attack, the minister said.

The motive is unknown at this time, U.S. sources said. But U.S. law enforcement sources told ABC News that German authorities are treating the attack as a terrorist incident.

“We send our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed and injured and to all those affected by this terrible incident,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

“We stand in solidarity with the people of Germany in grieving the loss of life. The United States is ready to provide assistance as recovery efforts continue and authorities investigate this horrible incident,” Miller’s statement continued.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz offered his condolences to those affected. “My thoughts are with the victims and their families,” Scholz said in a statement. “We stand by their side and by the side of the people of Magdeburg. My thanks go to the dedicated rescue workers in these anxious hours.”

Friday’s ramming incident came almost exactly eight years after a similar terror attack at a Christmas market in the German capital. On Dec. 19, 2016, a man drove a truck into a crowd at a market in Berlin, killing 13 and injuring dozens.

U.S. law enforcement officials have warned of similar vehicle-ramming attacks on American soil, particularly over the festive season.

A joint threat assessment about New Year’s Eve in New York City’s Times Square, for example, noted the use of vehicle-ramming alone or in conjunction with other tactics “has become a recurring tactic employed by threat actors in the West.”

The NYPD, out of an abundance of caution, will surge resources to similar areas around the city, including Christmas markets, according to NYPD deputy commissioner for counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner.

“We know this is a very festive time, it is a busy time in the city, and we are going to make sure that all of our holiday markets, all of our holiday activities are protected by our counter weapons teams, by officers on patrol, all our counter-terrorism officers, our critical response command,” Weiner told ABC New York station WABC.

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(BERLIN) — A car plowed into people visiting a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, on Friday, killing at least two people and injuring nearly 70 others, according to German officials.

German authorities are treating the incident as terrorism, U.S. law enforcement sources told ABC News.

Among those injured, at least 15 were seriously hurt, according to a local official.

People are still arriving at the hospital for treatment, a German security official said.

A suspect has been arrested in the attack that sent shoppers fleeing in panic, U.S. sources said.

The suspect is a doctor from Saudi Arabia who has lived in Germany since 2006, according to Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt Reiner Haseloff. A rental car was used in the attack, according to Haseloff.

The motive is unknown at this time, U.S. sources said.

Extensive police operations are underway at the Magdeburg Christmas market, which is now closed, local police said.

“My thoughts are with the victims and their families,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said. “We stand by their side and by the side of the people of Magdeburg. My thanks go to the dedicated rescue workers in these anxious hours.”

Magdeburg is about a two-hour drive west of Berlin.

This incident comes nearly eight years to the day after a terror attack at a different German Christmas market. On Dec. 19, 2016, a man drove a truck into a crowd at a market in Berlin, killing 13 and injuring dozens.

The potential for vehicle-ramming attacks is an ongoing concern for U.S. law enforcement officials, especially ahead of New Year’s Eve. A joint threat assessment about New Year’s Eve in New York City’s Times Square noted the use of vehicle-ramming alone or in conjunction with other tactics “has become a recurring tactic employed by threat actors in the West.”

he NYPD, out of an abundance of caution, will surge resources to similar areas around the city, including Christmas markets, according to NYPD deputy commissioner for counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner.

“We know this is a very festive time, it is a busy time in the city, and we are going to make sure that all of our holiday markets, all of our holiday activities are protected by our counter weapons teams, by officers on patrol, all our counter-terrorism officers, our critical response command,” Weiner told ABC New York station WABC.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(BERLIN) — A car plowed into people visiting a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, on Friday, killing several and injuring about 60 others, according to U.S. law enforcement sources.

German authorities are treating the incident as terrorism, U.S. law enforcement sources told ABC News.

A suspect has been arrested in the attack that sent shoppers fleeing in panic, U.S. sources said.

Extensive police operations are underway at the Magdeburg Christmas market, which is now closed, local police said.

The motive is unknown at this time, U.S. sources said.

“My thoughts are with the victims and their families,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said. “We stand by their side and by the side of the people of Magdeburg. My thanks go to the dedicated rescue workers in these anxious hours.”

Magdeburg is about a two-hour drive west of Berlin.

This incident comes nearly eight years to the day after a terror attack at a different German Christmas market. On Dec. 19, 2016, a man drove a truck into a crowd at a market in Berlin, killing 13 and injuring dozens.

The potential for vehicle-ramming attacks is an ongoing concern for U.S. law enforcement officials, especially ahead of New Year’s Eve. A joint threat assessment about New Year’s Eve in New York City’s Times Square noted the use of vehicle-ramming alone or in conjunction with other tactics “has become a recurring tactic employed by threat actors in the West.”

The NYPD, out of an abundance of caution, will surge resources to similar areas around the city, including Christmas markets, according to NYPD deputy commissioner for counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner.

“We know this is a very festive time, it is a busy time in the city, and we are going to make sure that all of our holiday markets, all of our holiday activities are protected by our counter weapons teams, by officers on patrol, all our counter-terrorism officers, our critical response command,” Weiner told ABC New York station WABC.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(LONDON) — A Russian missile strike killed one person and wounded nine others early on Friday morning, Ukrainian officials said, an attack that U.S. Ambassador Bridget A. Brink described as “brutal.”

“Early this morning Russia launched a ballistic missile attack against the capital, killing a civilian and resulting in debris and fires around the city,” Brink said in a statement on social media.

Brink added that the United States and its partners were “surging security assistance and energy support” to the country “in response to these brutal attacks.”

First responders were battling fires in the streets, and several high-rise buildings were damaged. Debris had fallen in at least four districts in the city, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app.

More than 600 buildings, including more than a dozen medical sites, were without heat after the strike damaged a heating main in the city’s southwestern Holosiivskyi District, he said. Seventeen schools and 13 kindergartens also were without heat early Friday.

Russia last month launched several aerial assaults that targeted energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine.

“Ukraine needs more air defense systems,” Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on Friday. “Russian terror must be stopped.”

Nine people were injured, including four who were hospitalized, in the strike on Kyiv, the mayor said, revising the number of injured from the previous seven.

ABC News’ Helena Skinner contributed to this report.

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(LONDON) — Russia’s war on Ukraine dominated the opening stages of President Vladimir Putin’s annual marathon press conference on Thursday, with the Russian leader also addressing issues including future relations with President-elect Donald Trump and the situation in Syria.

Among the questions was how Moscow would deal with the incoming Trump administration given Russia was in a “weaker position.”

In response, Putin said he had not spoken to Trump for four years but was ready for a meeting. “You would very much like Russia to be in a weakened position, but I hold a different point of view,” he said.

Discussing the ongoing war in Ukraine, Putin claimed that the Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile recently used to strike the Ukrainian city of Dnipro cannot be intercepted by Western air defense systems.

Western technology, he said, “stands no chance” against the missile.

Putin even suggested arranging “an experiment or a duel” in which Russia would select a target for an Oreshnik strike in Kyiv and Ukraine would set up its Western-supplied air defenses to intercept the missile.

“It will be interesting for us,” Putin said.

Asked about missing U.S. journalist Austin Tice — who disappeared in Syria 12 years ago — Putin said he would raise the issue with former Syrian President Bashar Assad, now living in exile in Russia having been toppled by a rebel offensive earlier this month.

Tice’s mother has reportedly written to Putin asking for help in finding Tice, who is now the subject of a major search effort by the U.S. with assistance from regional allies and the new rebel-led authorities in Syria.

Putin said he has not seen Assad in Moscow since he was granted asylum there, but he will raise the issue of Tice’s whereabouts.

“I promise that I will definitely ask this question,” he said. “I can also ask questions to people who control the situation.”

ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva, Tanya Stukalova and Fidel Pavlenko contributed to this report.

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(LONDON) — Dominique Pelicot, 72, has been given the maximum sentence of 20 years in the massive trial that has shaken France and shocked the world.

Pelicot and the 50 codefendants have all been found guilty, with all except one having been charged with rape.

The trial began on Sept. 2. Hearings took place for nearly three months and included testimony from Gisèle herself, who has become a feminist icon in France and across the world.

Prosecutors demanded the maximum sentence of 20 years for Dominique Pelicot and 10 years or more for most of the other co-defendants, if they’re found guilty. Dominique Pelicot had asked his family to “accept his apologies.”

Forty-nine of the 50 other co-defendants face aggravated rape or attempted rape charges. One co-defendant is accused of sexual assault and could face up to four years in prison.

Dominique Pelicot testified during the trial in Avignon that he mixed sedatives into Gisèle Pelicot ‘s food and drink so he could rape her, and that he recruited at least 50 other men via an online chat forum and invited them over to the family home where they are alleged to have raped and sexually abused Gisèle Pelicot. Dominique acknowledged in court that he’s guilty of the allegations and that his co-defendants understood what they were doing, The Associated Press reported.

The alleged abuse took place for almost a decade in their home in Provence, from 2011 to 2020. Gisèle has since divorced her husband.

Dominique Pélicot collected 20,000 photos and videos and stored the evidence, which later helped lead prosecutors to the 50 other defendants — “although about 20 others haven’t yet been identified,” The AP has reported.

She refused to stay anonymous, saying in court at one point during the hearings that she wants women who have been raped to know that “it’s not for us to have shame — it’s for them,” per The AP.

ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge and Hugo Leenhardt contributed to this report.

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