Talk of the Town
(LONDON) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a temporary ceasefire to come into effect during the 80th anniversary commemoration of V Day, which celebrates the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany in 1945.
The ceasefire will come into effect on May 8 and end on May 10, the Kremlin announced in a statement posted to its official Telegram channel Monday.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(LONDON) — North Korean authorities confirmed for the first time that the country’s forces fought against Ukrainian troops in Russia’s Kursk region, with state media claiming “victory” there and describing the North Korean soldiers involved as “heroic.”
The official acknowledgment came as Russian President Vladimir Putin also praised North Korean troops for their contribution in the theater, saying in a statement posted to the Kremlin website that Moscow’s “Korean friends” fought “with honor and valor, covering themselves with unfading glory.”
“The Russian people will never forget the feat of the Korean special forces,” Putin added. “We will always honor the Korean heroes who gave their lives for Russia, for our common freedom, on an equal basis with their Russian brothers in arms.”
In a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, North Korea’s Central Military Commission confirmed Monday its troops took part in the Russian operation to eject Ukrainian units from Kursk.
Fighting erupted there after Kyiv’s forces entered the border region in a surprise offensive in August 2024. It was the largest Ukrainian operation on Russian territory since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The military commission lauded North Korean units fighting in Kursk for “performing heroic feats in the operations to repulse and frustrate the grave sovereignty infringement by the Ukrainian authorities.”
This weekend, top Russian commander Valery Gerasimov said Russia had fully liberated Kursk after months of intensifying assaults on remaining Ukrainian positions there. Gerasimov praised North Korea units for “significant assistance.”
The North Korean committee said the involvement of its soldiers — which according to various U.S., Ukrainian and South Korean assistance involved at least 10,000 troops — “fully demonstrated their high fighting spirit and military temperament,” with “mass heroism, matchless bravery and self-sacrificing spirit.”
In a statement carried by KCNA, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said fighters in Kursk were “heroes” who “fought for justice.” A monument to the Kursk contingent would be erected in Pyongyang, Kim added.
“The motherland should hand down forever the soul of the soldiers who fought to defend its great honour and take important state measures to specially and preferentially treat and take care of the families of the brave soldiers who participated in the war,” Kim continued.
North Korean units entering the fighting in Kursk quickly sustained casualties, according to estimates by Ukraine-aligned governments.
British intelligence assessed that by March roughly 5,000 North Korean troops deployed to fight Ukraine had been killed or wounded, with a third likely killed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Kyrylo Budanov — the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence — both said in February that North Korean troops had suffered about 4,000 casualties.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said in March that North Korean forces had suffered around 5,000 casualties, according to the Yonhap news agency, South Korea’s state media.
ABC News’ Will Gretsky contributed to this report.
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(VATICAN CITY) — One day after the election of Pope Leo XIV, the first pontiff from the U.S., seven American cardinals sat down with reporters on Friday to discuss the Chicago native who now leads the Roman Catholic Church and how he will follow the footsteps of Pope Francis, but not as a “photocopy.”
The cardinals that gathered — Daniel DiNardo, Timothy Dolan, Joseph Tobin, Blase Cupich, Wilton Gregory, Robert McElroy and Christophe Pierre — agreed that all members of the clergy worked effectively together to elect a pontiff that would follow Pope Francis, who died on April 21.
“It was an amazing opportunity to see such a diverse assembly of humanity coming from many different perspectives, facing many different challenges, but coming together for a common purpose to find Peter’s successor, and I think we did well,” Gregory, the archbishop emeritus of Washington, said during the press conference at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.
Several of the cardinals admitted they were surprised an American was selected, including Robert McElroy — archbishop of Washington — who “always thought it would be impossible.”
But Dolan, the archbishop of New York, said he did not think the fact that Leo was from the U.S. “carried much weight” in the decision to elect him as the 267th leader of the church.
He also suggested that Leo’s election wasn’t a reaction to President Donald Trump.
“I don’t think at all my brother cardinals would have thought of him as a counterweight to any one person,” he said.
Regarding remarks made earlier by Cardinal Maung Bo — who said Leo will “build a bridge” with Trump — Dolan said the new pontiff will instead “build bridges with leaders of every nation.”
Dolan said Leo’s potential meeting with Trump would “not be of more heft” than conversations with other world leaders.
Overall, Gregory — who agreed with Dolan’s suggestion that American politics had nothing to do with the decision to elect Leo — told reporters the cardinals were attempting to elect someone who could lead the Catholic Church and could answer these questions: “Who among us can bring us together? Who among us can strengthen the faith and bring the faith to places it has grown weak?”
During the conclave itself, Gregory said Leo engaged in conversations with members of the clergy in “smaller groups,” specifically during meal times and coffee breaks.
“It wasn’t like he got up and made an overwhelmingly convincing speech that wowed the body,” Gregory said.
Cardinal Robert McElroy, archbishop of Washington, said it was not the substance of what Leo said during the conclave, but the “manner in which he said it” that resonated with the cardinals.
Tobin, archbishop of Newark, described a moment during the conclave, when he saw Leo, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost, with “his head in his hands” after realizing he could possibly become pope.
“I was praying for him, because I couldn’t imagine what happens to a human being when you’re facing something like that, and then when he accepted it, it was like he was made for it,” Tobin said. “All of whatever anguish was resolved by the feeling that, I think, that this wasn’t simply his saying yes to a proposal, but God would make something clear.”
The clergy also noticed that Leo had the mind of Pope Benedict and the “missionary zeal” of Francis, Dolan said. Similarly, McElroy said Leo has the “same type of freedom that is in his heart and soul that was in Francis,” but the new pontiff may not express that freedom in the same manner.
“We are looking for someone following the pathway, but we are not looking for a photocopy,” McElroy said.
Gregory, who said he spoke to Leo during the conclave about how they are both from Chicago, advised the world to give the new pope patience as he grows into this role, joking that he has only been in this position for a day.
“He’s never been pope before,” Gregory said. “Pope Leo will surprise us as he brings his gifts, confronts the challenges and responds in grace to the needs of the church.”
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(LONDON) — At least seven people were killed and 28 injured in Kyiv overnight as Russian drone and missile attacks again rocked Ukraine’s capital, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Monday, describing Moscow’s latest attack as “terrible.”
Most casualties came from a single strike on a residential building in Kyiv’s northwestern Shevchenkivskyi district, Klitschko said in a post to Telegram, alongside which he published a video from the impact site showing extensive damage to nearby apartment blocks.
Ukraine’s air force said in a post to Telegram that Russia launched 352 drones and 16 missiles into the country overnight, with Kyiv the primary target. Of those, the air force said 339 drones and 15 missiles were shot down or otherwise neutralized.
Direct hits were reported in six locations, the air force said, with falling debris reported in 25 locations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a statement on Telegram condemning the “cynical strike,” which he said included the use of North Korean ballistic missiles.
Noting Russia’s condemnation of recent Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iran, Zelenskyy said Moscow remains “silent” on its own ongoing bombardment of Ukrainian cities using Iranian-supplied attack drones.
“A significant part of the drones and missiles were shot down by our sky defenders,” Zelenskyy wrote. “But not all. And everyone in countries close to Russia, Iran and North Korea should think about whether they will be able to protect lives there if this coalition of killers persists and continues to spread terror.”
The Ukrainian president will visit the U.K. on Monday, as British leaders prepare for the NATO summit in the Netherlands on Tuesday.
Zelenskyy said that air defense capabilities will be among the topics to be discussed, capabilities he said “should become the basis for a much stronger joint defense.”
“And we will also agree on new and strong steps to put pressure on Russia for this war and to stop the strikes,” Zelenskyy wrote in his statement.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces shot down 23 Ukrainian drones overnight.
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