Putin lands in North Korea as he ‘praises dictator Kim Jong-un’ – Ukraine war live

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.

At least one person was injured in Russia’s drone attack on Ukraine’s western region of Lviv that borders Nato-member Poland, the mayor of Lviv city said today. The attack also damaged a multi-storey building, he added.

The drone attack in the village of Malekhiv in the Lviv city district damaged also scores of windows in other residential buildings, Lviv mayor Andriy Sadovyi wrote on his official Telegram channel.

A 70-year-old man was hospitalised in a moderate condition, Mr Sadovyi added.

Lviv city is the administrative centre of the Lviv region in western Ukraine.

Hungary’s prime minister, has said he supports outgoing Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte to replace Jens Stoltenberg as Nato’s next secretary general.

Rutte would be the fourth Dutchman to hold the post if he is chosen as the alliance’s 13th secretary general. He must now only secure the backing of Romania, whose President Klaus Iohannis also wants the role.

Hungary’s backing follows a meeting Orbán had with Stoltenberg last week, in which the two sides agreed that Hungary would not block Nato decisions on providing support for Ukraine but has agreed that it would not be involved.

Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un were seen awkwardly debating who gets in the car first during Russian dictator’s North Korea visit on yesterday.

The Russian president arrived in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang for his first official visit in 24 years and was met at the airport by his strongest ally Kim.

After greeting Putin, the two leaders then became involved in an awkward encounter about who was getting into the car first.

Putin has continuously sought to rebuild ties with Pyongyang as part of efforts to restore his country’s clout and its Soviet-era alliances.

After North Korea, the Kremlin said Putin will also visit Vietnam for talks that are expected to be focused on trade.

Watch the clip here:

The world’s nine nuclear-armed states continue to modernize their nuclear weapons as the countries deepened their reliance on such deterrence in 2023, a Swedish think tank said Monday.

“We have not seen nuclear weapons playing such a prominent role in international relations since the Cold War,” said Wilfred Wan, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute‘s weapons of mass destruction programme.

Earlier this month, Russia and its ally Belarus launched a second stage of drills intended to train their troops in tactical nuclear weapons, part of the Kremlin’s efforts to discourage the West from ramping up support for Ukraine.

Ukraine would hold peace talks “tomorrow” if Russia pulls out of all Ukrainian territory, Volodymyr Zelensky has said at a peace summit in Switzerland.

The two-day summit was held to accelerate efforts to end the war in Ukraine, and came to a close on Sunday with dozens of countries committing to Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

It comes as three civilians were killed by Russian forces in a strike on the Donetsk region as Vladimir Putin is accused by some of “seducing the West”.

Anastasiia Motychak did not know why Irina – the person in charge of her camp in Russian-occupied Crimea – had just slapped her across the face; she just knew she missed her mum and wanted to go home to the Ukrainian city of Kherson.

It had been two months since the then 15-year-old had been put on a bus and moved from the then Russian-occupied Kherson, in southern Ukraine, to a two-week “vacation camp” in Yevpatoria, western Crimea. Kherson was no place for a child, the Russian soldiers had warned.

Days later, Ukrainian forces liberated the city. But by then, Anastasiia was 150 miles deeper into occupied territory, sleeping in a room with barred windows.