North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reaffirmed his country’s “unconditional support” for Russia in the Ukraine war, telling Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Saturday that he strongly believes Moscow will emerge victorious from the conflict.
The exchange between the two was reported by North Korea state news agency KCNA on Sunday, which described the meeting between the so-called supreme leader and Lavrov as taking place in “an atmosphere full of warm comradely trust.”
A Tightening Partnership
Kim and Lavrov met in the eastern coastal city of Wonsan during the Russian top diplomat’s three-day visit to North Korea, the latest in a recent series of trips meant to further tighten the relationship between the two pariah countries.
The strategic partnership between the two countries, which position themselves as allies against the same West which has isolated them, has quickly escalated in recent years—in a way that experts consider dangerous. If in the first months following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022 the relationship between the two countries was based on rather practical cash-for-weapon exchange, Pyongyang has recently gone as far in its support as sending more than 10,000 troops to fight for Russia in Ukraine.
Kim’s recent statement to Lavrov suggests that there is no turning back for North Korea, even as the country has admitted losing hundreds of soldiers in Ukraine.
“Kim Jong Un reaffirmed that the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) is 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,” KCNA wrote on Sunday.
Russia seems equally as enthusiastic about the friendship between the two countries. On Saturday, Lavrov was quoted on Russian media as celebrating Moscow and Pyongyang as “an invincible fighting brotherhood.” The Russian diplomat also reportedly thanked Kim for the deployment of his country’s troops to Ukraine.
What Is Happening In Ukraine
On the same day of the meeting between Kim and Lavrov, Ukraine said that Russia fired hundreds of drones and long-range missiles across the country overnight, in what the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) described as the third combined strike with over 400 drones and missiles in July alone.
“Twenty-six cruise missiles and 597 attack drones were launched, of which more than half were ‘Shaheds’ [Iranian-made drones],” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening speech. According to the Ukrainian air force, 319 Shahed drones and 25 missiles were brought down, while one missile and about 20 drones had hit “five locations.”
“The Russians are intensifying terror against cities and communities to increasingly intimidate our people. But despite Moscow’s plans, the air defense forces are achieving good results,” Zelensky wrote on X.
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