Putin starts North Korea visit as Ukraine claims Russian troops ‘beheaded’ soldier – latest news

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un promised full support for Russia’s war in Ukraine before beginning a one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang today, in a bid to expand their economic and military cooperation and show a united front against Washington.

Kim said relations between Moscow and Pyongyang are now even closer than during Soviet times and called Putin’s visit an opportunity to solidify their “fiery friendship.”

Kim vowed his country’s “full support and solidarity to the Russian government, army and people in carrying out the special military operation in Ukraine to protect sovereignty, security interests and territorial integrity.” It wasn’t immediately clear what that support might look like.

Kim has used similar language in the past, consistently saying North Korea supports what he describes as a just action to protect Russia’s interests and blaming the crisis on the US-led West’s “hegemonic policy.”

Speaking before the summit, Putin thanked Kim for support in Ukraine and said the two countries would sign an agreement to boost their partnership as both “fight against the imperialist hegemonistic policies of the US and its satellites against the Russian Federation,” according to remarks carried by Russian state Tass and RIA Novosti news agencies.

Putin’s visit comes amid growing concerns about an arms arrangement in which North Korea provides Russia with badly needed munitions to fuel Moscow’s war in Ukraine, in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers that could enhance the threat posed by Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile program.

Vladimir Putin was embraced by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on his arrival at Pyongyang’s airport for a rare visit in the early hours this morning. The two leaders shared a ride to the state guest house in Pyongyang, North Korean state media said.

Putin, who arrived before dawn, is on his first trip to the North Korean capital in 24 years, a visit likely to reshape decades of Russia-North Korea relations at a time when both countries face international isolation.

Kim greeted Putin, shaking hands, embracing and talking beside the Russian leader’s plane. The pair then rode in Putin’s Russian-made Aurus limousine to the Kumsusan State Guest House.

Likely given the hour, the welcome was a relatively subdued affair, with Kim greeting the Russian leader on the red carpet without the grand ceremony the North put on for Chinese president Xi Jinping on his 2019 visit.

“Passing through charmingly lit streets of Pyongyang at night, the top leaders exchanged their pent-up inmost thoughts and opened their minds to more surely develop the DPRK-Russia relations,” KCNA reported, using the initials of North Korea’s official name.

State media photos showed streets of Pyongyang lined with portraits of Putin and the facade of the unfinished and vacant 101-story pyramid-shaped Ryugyong Hotel brightly lit with a giant message “Welcome Putin”.

Russian media photographs showed soldiers and a large crowd of civilians gathered at the square by the Taedong River running through the capital, including children holding balloons and giant portraits of the two leaders, with national flags adorning the Grand People’s Study Hall.

The Putin-Kim bromance is a dangerous liaison, not just for South Korea, Japan and other regional powers, but for the rest of the world, and, indeed, the protagonists themselves. Thermonuclear war, after all, means mutually assured destruction.

They are both heavily sanctioned international pariahs, both enemies of the West. They share an uneasy relationship with China, which, because of its huge economic power, military prowess and status as a superpower, is more dominant neighbour than dependable friend.

It is, paradoxically, a sign of some weakness that Mr Putin is being pushed towards Mr Kim. Although the United States and the rest of the West are concerned about Russia’s relationship with China, it seems that Beijing’s backing for the war in Ukraine is both conditional and limited. President Xi has extended vital financial aid and diplomatic support, bought Russian energy and raw materials, and supplied non-military and dual-use goods to Moscow, but probably not much in the way of obviously offensive kit.

Read The Independent’s Editorial here:

Ukraine’s air defence systems destroyed 19 out of 21 drones that Russia launched overnight targeting several regions, Ukraine’s air force said this morning.

The aerial attack on Ukrainian cities, especially western region of Lviv, has injured one man and damaged a multi-storey residential building, the mayor of Lviv city said.

The drone attack in the village of Malekhiv in the Lviv city district also damaged scores of windows in other residential buildings, Lviv mayor Andriy Sadovyi said.

No major casualties or damage has been reported elsewhere in Ukraine immediately.

Ukraine is investigating the suspected beheading of one of its servicemen by Russian forces in an occupied part of the eastern Donetsk region, the Ukrainian general prosecutor’s office said yesterday.

“The fact of decapitation of a Ukrainian defender was recorded in the Donetsk region,” Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin wrote on X, the social media platform.

In a statement, the general prosecutor’s office said the severed head of a Ukrainian soldier had been identified on a damaged armoured vehicle during aerial reconnaissance of the area.

It said the Ukrainian military had received information on Monday that members of a unit of Russian forces in Donetsk region’s Volnovaha district had ordered their subordinates not to capture Ukrainian servicemen and to behead them.

Kostin says that Ukraine has documented nearly 130,000 war crimes committed by Russia.

Russia, which has repeatedly denied its forces carry out war crimes during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022, has made no comment on the allegation.

A blaze at an oil depot in the town of Azov in Russia’s southern region of Rostov has been raging for more than 24 hours, local emergency services said this morning.

Several oil storage tanks were engulfed in fire after a drone attack early yesterday that a Ukraine intelligence source said was conducted by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

“The fire at the Azov district has been localized at the 3,200 square metres at 5.30am (0200 GMT),” the emergency service said on the Telegram channel.

The source told Reuters the attack struck the Azovskaya and Azovnefteprodukt depots that have a total of 22 fuel tanks.

Kyiv has often said that targeting Russia’s energy, military and transport infrastructure undermines Moscow’s military effort.

The town of Azov is situated on the Don River and is about 16 km (10 miles) from the Sea of Azov.

Nothing much came from the sessions of mutual admiration, apart from a temporary suspension by North Korea of ballistic missile building and deep apprehension from America’s allies in the region that Trump may do a deal with Kim jeopardising their security. That did not materialise in the end, to much relief.

Now Kim has a new bestie, Vladimir Putin, and this presents a clear and present danger to the West and its allies. North Korea is already stepping in to replenish Russia’s exhausted ammunition and missile stock for the Ukraine war. Moscow has been accused of circumventing international sanctions to help Kim develop his military arsenal as well as planning to help his nuclear programme.

Read Kim Sengupta’s report here:

Russia is discussing with its closest partners the issue of deploying long-range weapons, said Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov, according to Russian news agency TASS.

He told TASS in an interview that Moscow has “closest partners” in both Asia and Latin America with whom “the security situation is being worked out substantively, not only at the level of exchange of assessments”.

“There is nothing new in this,” TASS cited Ryabkov as saying. “The issue (placement of long-range weapons) is being raised … with a number of our partners.”

Ryabkov would not name any countries and he said that the discussions take place “with full respect” for obligations that the countries may bear under international treaties, including those to which Russia is not a party.