Ukraine updates: Musk reportedly joined Trump-Zelenskyy call

The commander-in-chief of Ukraine's military, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said there had been reports of North Korean troops preparing for combat alongside Russian forces.

"We have numerous reports of North Korean soldiers preparing to participate in combat operations alongside Russian Forces," Syrskyi was cited by Ukraine's general staff as saying in a post on Facebook.

Syrskyi said the situation on the front line remained "difficult and shows signs of escalation."

It comes days after Ukraine's Defense Ministry reported its first clashes with North Korean troops in the Russian border region of Kursk.

Ukraine is working to set up a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President-elect Donald Trump, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Saturday.

It comes after the two statesmen spoke over the phone following Trump's election victory.

"The dialogue between Trump and Zelenskyy has already been established," Sybiha told reporters.

"We are open to further cooperation."

Ukraine's military destroyed or damaged more than 52,000 Russian targets with drone strikes in October, the military's commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Saturday.

Among these targets were 129 Russian artillery systems, 221 Russian radio systems and 4,000 Russian soldiers who were killed or wounded, Syrskyi said on Facebook.

"The technology of unmanned systems is developing rapidly, and we have to stay one step ahead of the enemy," he added.

The figures provided by Syrskyi have not been independently verified.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he would be arranging talks with allies around Europe and NATO's Mark Rutte soon to discuss transatlantic cooperation and the war in Ukraine in light of Donald Trump's election win in the US. 

Trump had criticized the level of US funding for Ukraine frequently during the campaign, and also often said he would bring about a swift end to the conflict, without ever outlining how. 

"There is no doubt that this new political landscape is a serious challenge for everyone, especially in the context of a possible end to the Russian-Ukrainian war as a result of an agreement between, for example, the president of Russia and the new president of the United States," Tusk said on Saturday. 

He said that in the coming days, "we will very intensively coordinate cooperation with countries that have a similar view on the geopolitical and transatlantic situation and situation in Ukraine."

Tusk said that French President Emmanuel Macron and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte would soon visit Warsaw, and that he would meet British Prime Minister Keir Starmer either in London or Warsaw. 

"Everything will, of course, be in the context of new challenges facing our homeland, the entire region, the European Union and the Western community," he said. 

Tusk also repeated an appeal he had made prior to Tuesday's vote — namely saying that Ukraine's fate "depends first and foremost on us" in Europe, irrespective of events in the US.

"Whatever the outcome, the era of geopolitical outsourcing is over," Tusk had said as early as November 2.

Regional authorities in Ukraine's Black Sea port city of Odesa say a Russian drone strike has killed a woman and left 13 others injured.

Regional governor Oleh Kiper said high-rise residential buildings, private houses and warehouses were damaged by the "fall" of a drone but he did not specify whether the drone had been shot down by air defenses.

Ukraine’s air force said that 32 Russian drones were shot down over 10 Ukrainian regions, while 18 were "lost" in overnight attacks.

Russia has recently been launching a near-constant aerial bombardment and Ukrainian officials say they need more Western support to counter it.

The European Union's outgoing foreign policy commissioner, Josep Borrell, embarked on a last trip to Ukraine on Saturday, hoping to calm nerves in Kyiv after Donald Trump's election win in the US. 

"We have been supporting Ukraine since the beginning, and on this my last visit to Ukraine, I convey the same message: we will support you as much as we can," Borrell told an AFP journalist accompanying him on the trip. 

In a post online after arriving by train, Borrell said it had been a "personal priority" during his mandate to ensure support for Kyiv. 

"Nobody knows exactly what the new administration is going to do," the Spanish politician said of Trump's return in January, after the Republican repeatedly said during the US election campaign that he would seek a swift resolution to the conflict.

"But we Europeans have to use this opportunity in order to build a stronger and united Europe, and one of the manifestations of being united and being stronger and able to act is our role in supporting Ukraine."

The EU as an institution is a major contributor of assistance to Ukraine. However, the bloc itself has no independent military and is broadly unable to provide military assistance or equipment, with Brussels instead covering the lion's share of the financial assistance required by Kyiv. Defense exports and deliveries remain questions for individual member states within the EU, at least in the vast majority of circumstances.

Europe as a whole has spent around €125 billion (roughly $115 billion) in support of Ukraine, with just over €40 billion of that financial assistance directly from the EU as an institution, according to information from the tracking service by the Kiel Institute.

But the US has provided more than €90 billion by itself, and crucially it has provided military equipment worth almost €60 billion.

By contrast, Germany, the largest provider of military assistance to Kyiv after the US to date, has barely cleared the €10 billion marker.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the Belarusian opposition leader who lives in self-imposed exile in Lithuania, told DW that she congratulated US President-elect Donald Trump on his election victory because she respects the choice of the American people.

"Of course, as democratic forces, we will have to work with the new administration," she said.

Tsikhanouskaya added that she believes the American people will stand strongly for democracy with those who are fighting for democratic change.

"What we need from the US is support for decent democratic forces. It's pressure on Lukashenko's regime because he's a dictator," she said, referring to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Lukashenko is allied with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and he supports Russa's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.   

Among the possible ways of support, Tsikhanouskaya mentioned imposing sanctions for human rights violations and torture in Belarus, bringing the perpetrators to justice, and providing asylum to those who have been forced to flee Belarus because of repression.

The Belarusian opposition leader also stressed that it is very important for the whole democratic world, including the US, to do everything for the Ukrainians to win the war. 

Germany's ambassador to Russia, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, has called on Moscow to end the war in Ukraine.

Speaking at a ceremony in Moscow marking the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Lambsdorff praised Soviet Union's role in the reunification of Germany, while urging Russia to end its invasion of Ukraine.

He stressed that the Soviet Union had helped make the reunification possible as it managed, alongside the West, to "bury a dangerous conflict" and create the foundations for a better future. 

"At that time, a peaceful order emerged in Europe that other world regions envied," said Lambsdorff. "We want to, we must return to this order," he said, referring to Russia's war against Ukraine.

"The key to peace once again lies here in Moscow. Russia must end the war in Ukraine," Lambsdorff said. "This is necessary in the interest of humanity, in the interest of peace in Europe, in the interest of the entire community of states."

The Pentagon will allow a select number of private US defense contractors to deploy into Ukraine, US officials said on Friday.

The contractors will be stationed far away from the frontlines and will not take part in combat, officials said, speaking to news agencies on condition of anonymity. Their safety will be their own companies' responsibility.

The easing of restrictions aims to allow the contractors to help with equipment maintenance and repair. This will help with repairing equipment which requires high expertise, including F-16 fighter jets and air defense systems.

There is an existing number of US companies which the State Department has contracted to work in Ukraine, including on the energy grid. Meanwhile, workers from a number of American companies are available in the country, under contracts with the Ukrainian government.

When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called US President-elect Donald Trump to congratulate him on his election victory earlier this week, he briefly spoke to billionaire Elon Musk.

News website Axios reported that Musk was physically with Trump during the phone call, with the president-elect handing it over to him. Several other media outlets later also reported the same news, citing Ukrainian forces.

Musk "wasn't on the line, Trump gave him the phone. They were there together somewhere," a senior Ukrainian official told the French AFP news agency.

Zelenskyy "thanked him [Musk] for the Starlinks, they talked briefly," the source said, referring to the satellite internet devices used by Ukrainian troops as they fight off the Russian invasion.

Zelenskyy was telling Trump of the importance of the satellites for internet service during the war when Trump said Musk was with him and put him on the line, The Washington Post reported. The pair were speaking from Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Palm Beach residence and club in Florida.

Musk's presence with Trump has been interpreted as indicative of the close relationship he is expected to enjoy with the president-elect during his second term.

Musk has flooded Trump's election campaign with tens of millions of dollars in support, and Trump has said he intends to give Musk a role promoting government efficiency within his administration.

rmt/wd (Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa)