SEOUL: North Korea has accused Donald Trump of exploiting the death of American student Otto Warmbier, referring to the US president as an “old lunatic” for alleging the 22-year-old was tortured while in Pyongyang’s custody.
In a statement issued by the state-run KCNA news agency, North Korea’s foreign ministry accused the US of “luring and pushing” Warmbier, who died days after being released from North Korea in a coma, into breaking the country’s laws.
“Trump and his clique, for their anti-DPRK propaganda, are again exploiting the death of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who had been under reform through labor for the criminal act he committed against the DPRK and died after returning to the U.S,” it said, using the acronym for the North’s official name.
N. Korea accuses ‘old lunatic’ Trump of exploiting Warmbier death
N. Korea accuses ‘old lunatic’ Trump of exploiting Warmbier death
Ukraine has liberated 300 sq km in southern counteroffensive: Zelensky to AFP
- "Both the Americans and the Russians say that if you want the war to end tomorrow, get out of Donbas," the Ukrainian leader said
- Ukraine has repeatedly ruled out pulling its troops out of the region
KYIV: President Volodymyr Zelensky told AFP on Friday that his army has recently liberated swathes of territory in southern Ukraine, even as Washington and Moscow pressure Kyiv to cede other regions to end the war.
Zelensky, speaking just days before the gruelling war's fourth anniversary, said the United States and Russia are still insisting that Kyiv give up its embattled Donbas region, a scenario that Ukraine has repeatedly ruled out.
But even against the backdrop of US-led talks aimed at ending the conflict, Kyiv's army was recapturing land from invading Russian forces, Zelensky told AFP in an exclusive interview in the presidency in Kyiv.
"I won't go into too many details," Zelensky said, "but today I can congratulate our army first and foremost -- all the defence forces -- because as of today, 300 (square) kilometres have been liberated."
AFP was unable to verify the claim.
Ukraine, which has been suffering manpower and resource shortages compared to Russian forces, was still facing pressure to cede Donbas, a heavily industrialised and fortified region in the east that Russia has claimed as its own, Zelensky said.
"Both the Americans and the Russians say that if you want the war to end tomorrow, get out of Donbas," the Ukrainian leader told AFP.
Ukraine has repeatedly ruled out pulling its troops out of the region, saying such move would only embolden Russia.
Kyiv's troops still control around one-fifth of the Donetsk region, while Russia has seized roughly the entire Lugansk region -- the two are together referred to as the Donbas.
It said that it would not sign a peace deal that fails to deter Russia from invading again.
US-mediated talks in Geneva earlier this week failed to make progress on the key issue of territory in any deal to end the conflict.
Moscow has vowed it will capture the entire Donbas by force if Kyiv does not withdraw, with President Vladimir Putin showing no signs of compromise on his hardline demands to end his four-year invasion.
