Key developments on October 17:
Zelensky claims to have told Trump that Ukraine would either join NATO or pursue nukes
Zelensky retracts earlier comments about Ukraine’s possible nuclear weapons plan
* Zelensky confirms that North Korea is preparing 10,000 soldiers for war with Russia.
* Zaluzhnyi: It’s almost impossible to end the ‘protracted war’ with Russia
Russian media reports that a high-ranking GRU officer was killed in the Moscow Oblast.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, said on October 17 that during their September meeting he had told Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that Ukraine would either join NATO or develop nuclear capabilities to defend itself.
Zelensky spoke from Brussels, where the EU leaders heard his plan for victory.
“Either Ukraine has nuclear weapons that will protect it, or they must be a part of an alliance.” Zelensky told Trump that “apart from NATO, we don’t know of an alliance with such effectiveness”.
“I think Trump heard me, and said it was a good argument,” he continued.
Zelensky also invoked Budapest Memorandum in which Ukraine agreed to give up its nuke arsenal in 1994 in exchange for guarantees of security from Russia, U.S.A., and U.K.
Zelensky claimed that the agreement led to Ukraine losing its nuclear shield while other powers who have maintained their arsenals have not suffered a full-scale conflict.
Zelensky also said that he would prefer to join NATO than pursue nuclear weapons.
Zelensky retracts earlier comments about Ukraine’s possible nuclear weapons plan
On October 17, President Volodymyr Zelensky clarified comments he made earlier.
Zelensky had earlier in the day said that in their September meeting, he told Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump that Ukraine must be a part of NATO or it will pursue nuclear capabilities for its own protection.
Zelensky, in a press conference held with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Tuesday, retracted his comments and stated that Ukraine did not seek nuclear weapons.
He said: “We never talked about…that we were preparing to make nuclear weapons or anything like that.”
Zelensky chided a reporter for asking questions about the earlier remarks and said that they were made in order to describe how the Budapest Memorandum failed to provide Ukraine an effective security umbrella.
Zelensky said that Ukraine’s only option for effective security is to join NATO, due to the failure of the Budapest Memorandum.
“But we don’t do…nuclear arms,” he stressed, adding that he would request that such a narrative be not propagated.
Rutte, in response to Zelensky’s remarks, reiterated that Ukraine would become a NATO Member but did not give a specific timetable.
Zelensky: ‘First step towards World War’ – North Korea is preparing 10,000 soldiers for Russia’s war.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, said on October 17 that North Korea was preparing 10,000 soldiers from different branches and specializations for Russia’s full scale war against Ukraine.
His statement came just days after a Western Diplomat told the Kyiv Independent newspaper that Pyongyang sent 10,000 soldiers to Russia. Zelensky stated that Moscow intends to “actually engage” North Korea in war in the upcoming months.
At a press briefing in Brussels, President Putin said that Russia plans to train and recruit not only infantry, but also North Korean specialists for various branches of the military.
He added, “We know that they are preparing to deploy about 10,000 soldiers to fight against us.”
According to military intelligence reports, some North Korean officers have already joined the Russian Army in the occupied territories of Ukraine. Zelensky said that the number of officers is unknown.
According to Zelensky the participation of North Korean forces in the Russian war is “the first step towards a global war.”
Moscow and Pyongyang are stepping up their military cooperation, as Russia looks for arms and other forms of support to help it wage a full-scale war on Ukraine. North Korea has been supplying Russia massive quantities of artillery and ballistic missiles.
Iran is a Russian ally that aids Moscow in its aggression towards Ukraine. Tehran has supplied Russia with thousands Shahed Kamikaze drones which are used to launch daily attacks in Ukraine.
“Iran gave (Russian) drones, licenses to produce these drones and rockets. But not people and not officially. “We can see the first step of this war,” Zelensky said.
Zaluzhnyi: It’s ‘almost impossible’ to get out of the ‘protracted war’ with Russia
According to a Kyiv independent reporter, Valerii Zaluzhnyi (Ukraine’s former commander in chief and current ambassador to the U.K.) said that it was almost impossible to avoid the state of a “protracted” conflict with Russia during a speech given at Chatham House on October 17.
Zaluzhnyi said that the West had not provided Kyiv with enough weapons in 2023. This is why Ukraine did not “significantly succeed in defeating Russia” in the counteroffensive.
“Consequentially we ended up in an extended war.” He said that, in his opinion, it was almost impossible to find a way out.
The Economist published in November 2023 an interview with Zaluzhnyi, as well as an op/ed written by the general. In both cases, he described the current state of war as “stalemate.”
The comment was in contrast to the public statements made by President Volodymyr Zelensky and his government and reportedly caused a rift between the two.
Zaluzhnyi warned Russia’s war against Ukraine had entered a “positional stage”. This new phase is characterized by a “static and attritional” fighting style that will allow Russia’s military power to be restored.
Ukraine has had a difficult time defending its front line throughout 2024, especially in Donetsk Oblast where Russia has consistently focused its offensive potential.
After Ukraine’s withdrawal from Vuhledar at the beginning of October, Russian forces have focused their efforts on the Donetsk Oblast cities of Pokrovsk Toretsk and Kurakhove where outnumbered and under-equipped Ukrainian soldiers are losing ground slowly under Russian pressure.
Russian media reports that an intelligence officer was killed in the Moscow Oblast
Russian media reported that Nikita Klenkov was killed by an unknown attacker in the Moscow Oblast.
The Moscow Times reported that Klenkov was 44 and the deputy commander of the GRU unit 43292, a training center for Special Operations Forces.
Baza, a Russian Telegram channel, reported that Klenkov had been shot on the side of the road in Melenki to the east of Moscow. The assailant fired eight shots out of the window of a vehicle.
According to a GRU-sourced source, the Russian state-run news outlet TASS reported that Klenkov had “returned home a few weeks ago” from the front lines of Ukraine.
The Russian state media reported on the ongoing investigation.
The Kyiv independent could not confirm any of the reports made by Russian state media.
It is currently unclear if the attack was intended as a politically-motivated assassination. Kyiv hasn’t commented on the situation.
In July, a GRU officer had his feet blown away in a car-bomb attack in Moscow.
Kyiv denied involvement in the attack. Mykhailo Podolyak, Ukrainian presidential adviser, told independent Russian media that he believed “a malfunction occurred with the gas equipment on the car.”
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