Ukraine updates: EU sanctions Iran over missiles to Russia

NATO will maintain its support of Ukraine, Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on his first visit to the alliance's Ukraine mission in Wiesbaden, Germany, which is set to take over the coordination of military aid from the United States.

The Wiesbaden base is also home to the US unit in charge of long-range missiles that the United States will deploy to Germany temporarily from 2026, to counter what both nations describe as a threat posed by Russian missiles stationed as close as Kaliningrad, around 500 kilometers (311 miles) from Berlin.

"The message [to Russian President Vladimir Putin] is that we will continue, that we will do what's necessary to make sure that he will not get his way, that Ukraine will prevail," he told the news agency Reuters in a joint interview with German public broadcaster Hessischer Rundfunk on Monday.

Rutte spoke at Clay Barracks, the US base hosting the headquarters of the new mission, which will incrementally take over the coordination of Western military aid to Ukraine.

The decision is partly viewed as a bid to safeguard the military aid mechanism against a possible return of NATO critic Donald Trump to the White House. Republican Trump is running against Democrat Kamala Harris in the November US election, with pundits saying the race is currently too close to call.

Diplomats, however, acknowledge that the handover of aid coordination to NATO may have a limited effect given that the US is the military alliance's most dominant power and provides the majority of arms to Kyiv as it continues to try to fend off the invasion of Russia.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha welcomed new EU sanctions against Iran for supplying weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine.

"Military assistance to an aggressor violates international law and the UN Charter. Those who support aggression must share responsibility and pay the price," "Sybiha said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Israel also welcomed the news, with Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz writing that the sanctions "send a clear message that the international community will not tolerate Iran's dangerous actions, its support for terrorism, and its destabilization of the region."

Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov has arrived in Beijing on an official visit, Russian news agencies said, citing his ministry.

The visit came as China's military launched a new round of war games near Taiwan on Monday, saying it was a warning to the "separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces." That measure drew condemnation from the Taipei and US governments.

"During the visit, the Russian Defence Minister will hold several talks with the country's military and military-political leadership," the ministry was quoted as saying.

Russian news agencies also reported on Monday that Russian and Chinese warships had  carried out anti-submarine firing exercises in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. That came as part of a joint patrol in the Asia-Pacific region.

The two countries declared a "no limits" partnership shortly before Moscow launched its attack on Ukraine.

European Union foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg have approved sanctions against Tehran for supplying missiles to Moscow's forces in Ukraine.

The sanctions target businesses and people involved in Iran's ballistic missile program, as well as those involved in the delivery of military hardware to Russia.

Brussels has warned Iran several times against sending ballistic missiles to Russia and views the alleged development as breaching a new taboo.

Iran has strongly denied supplying Russia with the weapons.

Iran says that, although it has a strategic cooperation with Moscow, this is not related to the war in Ukraine. It maintains that the provision of military aid to warring parties is inhumane.

Ukraine says its agents have destroyed a Russian military transport plane stationed at an airfield deep inside Russian territory. 

The attack, over the weekend, is the latest Ukrainian claim of an attack behind Moscow's lines.

Ukraine has increased its attacks inside Russia and Russian-held territory in recent months, targeting military sites and energy facilities, seeking to disrupt Russian military logistics.

Kyiv's military intelligence agency says it destroyed the Tu-134 transport aircraft overnight between Saturday and Sunday. 

It said the attack was at a military airfield in the Orenburg region, some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from the border with Ukraine.

"These Soviet-built airplanes are used mainly to transport leadership of the Russian defense ministry," the agency said on social media on Monday.

The agency posted footage of what Ukraine said was an arson attack. Footage showed a fire inside an aircraft, but it did not provide details of how the alleged attack was carried out.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said North Korea has sent soldiers as well as weapons to help Russia in its invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

"We see an increasing alliance between Russia and regimes like North Korea," the Ukrainian leader said in his evening video address on Sunday.

"This is no longer just about transferring weapons. It is actually about transferring people from North Korea to the occupying military forces."

There has so far been no independent confirmation that North Korean soldiers are against Ukraine but, in recent days, there have been reports of the deployment of North Korean soldiers there.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US military think tank, has recently reported that several thousand North Korean soldiers had arrived in Russia and were being prepared for deployment in Ukraine.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un has been supporting Russia's war against Ukraine, supporting the country with weapons and ammunition. South Korean intelligence says Pyongyang supplies artillery shells and short-range missiles.

rc/zc (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)