• 3:34 am: Stoltenberg calls on Seoul to boost aid to Ukraine

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday urged South Korea to step up its military aid to Ukraine, citing the example of countries that have, since the start of the war, changed their policy from tradition not to supply arms to other countries in conflict.

Visiting Seoul at the start of a tour of Asia during which he will also visit Japan with the aim of strengthening ties between these countries and the Transatlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg stressed to senior South Korean representatives that the events in Europe and North America were interconnected with other regions.

NATO, he said during a speech before the Chey Institute, wants to respond to global threats by strengthening its partnerships in Asia, against a backdrop of war in Ukraine and increased competition with China.

If he thanked South Korea for its non-lethal aid to Ukraine, Jens Stoltenberg asked Seoul to do more, highlighting that kyiv had an “urgent need” of ammunition.

  • 2:23 a.m .: War in Ukraine will not turn into conflict between Russia and NATO, says Scholz

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reaffirmed on Sunday that his country will not allow the war in Ukraine to turn into a conflict between Russia and NATO, after meeting with the Chilean president as part of his tour of Latin America.

"We have contributed to ensuring that there is no escalation of the conflict, because this would have serious consequences for the whole world. This would lead, for example, to a war between Russia and the NATO countries , it will not happen, we will prevent it with all our efforts, we have succeeded so far and we will continue to do so," said the head of the German government.

"It's about supporting Ukraine, it's about having a serious debate to make the decisions that need to be made and it shouldn't be a competition (to know) who sends the most weapons," he argued.

Olaf Scholz explained, in Santiago de Chile, that he and his American counterpart Joe Biden "(refuse) to send troops to Ukraine" in order to avoid an escalation of the conflict.

  • 1:01 am: "A missile would take a minute": when Johnson says that Putin "threatened" him

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson recounts in a BBC documentary that Russian President Vladimir Putin "sort of threatened" him before the invasion of Ukraine by throwing at him: "A missile would take a minute".

In this three-part documentary, the first episode of which is broadcast Monday evening on BBC Two, the former head of the British government recounts his "very long" and "extraordinary" call with the Russian president after his visit to kyiv at the beginning of last February.

At that time, Vladimir Putin continued to maintain that he had no intention of invading his Ukrainian neighbor, despite the massive influx of Russian soldiers into the border regions.

Boris Johnson, he says that he had warned the Russian president of the harsh sanctions that Westerners would take if he embarked on this path.

"He said: 'Boris, you say that Ukraine is not going to join NATO anytime soon. (...) What do you mean by 'not anytime soon'?'", says Boris Johnson .

"Well she is not going to join NATO in the near future, you know that perfectly well," continues the former British leader, an early supporter of the Ukrainians.

"At one point he kind of threatened me and said, 'Boris, I don't want to hurt you, but with a missile it would take a minute' or something," Boris Johnson continues. .

"I think that from the very relaxed tone he took, the detachment he seemed to have, he was playing with my attempts to get him to negotiate," adds the former British leader, who left Downing Street in early September after a succession of scandals.

In the documentary, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recounts how he became enraged at the attitude of Westerners at the time: "If you know that tomorrow Russia is going to invade Ukraine, why is what you don't give me today what to stop it? If you can't, then stop it yourselves."

  • 12:58 a.m.: One dead in Kharkiv after missile hits residential building

A missile hit a residential building in Kharkov, Ukraine's second largest city, on Sunday evening, killing one person and injuring at least three, regional governor Oleh Synehoubov said, adding that significant damage was also to be reported.

"Three people were slightly injured. Unfortunately, an elderly lady was killed," wrote Oleh Synehoubov on Telegram messaging.

He also told the Suspilne news site that the "fourth floor (of the building) was destroyed. It's an old building. The second and third floors were badly damaged."

With AFP and Reuters

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