Ukraine war briefing: Kim Jong-un voices ‘unconditional' support for Moscow as Russian foreign minister visits

The Guardian

12 hours ago

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un has reaffirmed his full support for Moscow in the war in Ukraine during talks with Russia's top diplomat, state media reported on Sunday. The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, is on a three-day visit to North Korea, the latest in a series of trips by top Moscow officials as the two countries deepen military and political ties. Kim and Lavrov met on Saturday in 'an atmosphere full of warm comradely trust', North Korea's official KCNA news agency reported. Kim told Lavrov that North Korea was 'ready to unconditionally support and encourage all the measures taken by the Russian leadership as regards the tackling of the root cause of the Ukrainian crisis'.
Lavrov spoke to reporters at North Korea's eastern city of Wonsan, where he met Kim and North Korea's foreign minister Choe Son Hui, issuing a joint statement pledging support to safeguard the territorial integrity of each other's countries, KCNA said. A massive resort was opened in Wonson earlier this month. Ahead of Lavrov's visit, Russia announced that it would begin twice-a-week flights between Moscow and Pyongyang. Lavrov lauded Wonsan as 'a good tourist attraction', adding: 'We hope it will be popular not only with local citizens, but also with Russians.'
Lavrov also warned the US, South Korea and Japan against forming a security partnership targeting North Korea, accusing the countries of what he called military buildups around North Korea. 'We warn against exploiting these ties to build alliances directed against anyone, including North Korea and, of course, Russia,' he said, according to Russia's state Tass news agency. The deepening relationship between Russia and North Korea has raised concerns among South Korea and the US that Russia might also transfer to North Korea sensitive technologies that can increase the danger of its nuclear and missile programmes. Lavrov said Russia understood North Korea's decision to seek nuclear weapons. 'The technologies used by North Korea are the result of the work of its own scientists. We respect North Korea's aspirations and understand the reasons why it is pursuing nuclear development,' Lavrov said, according to Tass.
Russia fired hundreds of drones and long-range missiles across Ukraine overnight, killing at least six people in its latest wave of strikes, Ukraine said on Saturday. 'The Russians continue to use their specific tactics of terror against our country, striking concentrated blows at one city or another, at one region or another,' the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said in his evening address. Moscow has stepped up aerial strikes over recent months as US-led ceasefire talks have stalled. 'Twenty-six cruise missiles and 597 attack drones were launched, of which more than half were 'Shaheds',' Zelenskyy said, referring to Iranian-made drones. The Ukrainian air force said it had downed 319 Shahed drones and 25 missiles, adding that one missile and about 20 drones had hit 'five locations'.
Zelenskyy said the strikes had killed at least two people and wounded 20 in the south-western Chernivtsi region, far from the frontlines of the east and south. Twelve people were wounded in Lviv, also in the west, while in the east two people died in Dnipropetrovsk and three were wounded in Kharkiv, officials said. Zelenskyy said that some of the drones sent by Russia had been 'simulators' intended to 'overload the air-defence system and make it more difficult to shoot down the 'suicide drones'. This is their deliberate and despicable terror.' The Russian defence ministry said it had targeted companies in Ukraine's military-industrial complex in Lviv, Kharkiv and Lutsk and a military aerodrome.
In a video message, Zelenskyy said 'we are close to reaching a multi-level agreement on new Patriot systems and missiles for them'. Ukraine was stepping up production of its own interceptor systems, he added. The US special envoy Keith Kellogg is due to begin his latest visit to Ukraine on Monday as a Washington-led peace effort flounders. Donald Trump also said he would make a 'major statement … on Russia' on Monday. On Friday, the Kremlin restated its opposition to a European peacekeeping force in Ukraine, after French President Emmanuel Macron said Kyiv's allies had a plan 'ready to go … in the hours after a ceasefire'.
Zelenskyy urged his western allies to send 'more than just signals' to stop the war launched by Russia in February 2022. 'The pace of Russian airstrikes requires swift decisions and it can be curbed right now through sanctions,' he said on social media. Zelenskyy specifically demanded penalties for those who 'help Russia produce drones and profit from oil'.