World
Putin in North Korea live: Russian president thanks Kim for ‘unwavering support’ on Ukraine
Putin thanks Kim for ‘unwavering’ support on Ukraine
Putin has opened his talks with Kim by telling him of Moscow’s appreciation for Pyongyang’s support including on Ukraine, Russia’s Tass news agency reports. The Russian president said:
We highly appreciate your consistent and unwavering support for Russian policy, including in the Ukrainian direction.
Russia is fighting “decades of imposed US imperialist policies”, Putin reportedly told Kim.
Key events
On the Telegram messaging app, the channel used by Kremlin media operations has posted that Vladimir Putin’s greeting in Pyongyang was “most spectacular”.
It reported:
Kim Jong-un met Putin on the red carpet, the anthems of the two countries were played, shots were fired and greetings were heard from the stands.
People who came to the square released balloons into the sky. And the ceremony ended with fireworks, despite the daylight hours.
Justin McCurry
China accounts for more than 90% of North Korea’s trade and has been its most dependable aid donor and diplomatic ally. But as Vladimir Putin’s visit to Pyongyang proves, the secluded state’s behaviour is being increasingly influenced by its security and economic ties with Russia.
Check out our explainer on what North Korea and Russia have to offer each other:
The open-format negotiations between Putin and Kim have now ended, Tass news agency reports. They lasted more than an hour and a half.
Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said the two leaders would now discuss “the most important, most sensitive issues” face-to-face.
Ukraine’s air defence systems destroyed 19 out of 21 drones that Russia launched overnight targeting several regions, Ukraine’s air force said on Wednesday.
Kim says North Korean-Russian relations entering period of ‘new prosperity’
It’s Kim Jong-un’s turn to speak at his meeting with Vladimir Putin and he has told the Russian president that relations between their two countries are entering a period of “new prosperity”, according to Russian news agency Tass.
Kim also reportedly noted Russia’s role in “maintaining the strategic balance in the world” and expressed support for the “special operation”, which is what Moscow calls its invasion of Ukraine.
Pyongyang intends to strengthen “strategic” cooperation with Russia, Kim said:
The situation in the world is becoming more complicated and changing rapidly. In this situation, we intend to further strengthen strategic contacts with Russia, with the Russian leadership.
A few images have started to arrive from Putin’s welcome ceremony in Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, showing the Russian president and his host, Kim Jong-un, walking past a row of grey horses ridden by soldiers in ceremonial uniform and a group of smiling children holding balloons.
A bit more from Pyongyang, where Vladimir Putin has told Kim Jong-un he hopes their next meeting “will take place in Russia, in Moscow”, according to Russian news wires.
Putin said he “admired Pyongyang’s transformation over the past 24 years” and that he was confident Wednesday’s negotiations would be “productive”, Tass news agency reported.
He also said that a new document had been prepared that would “form the basis of relations between the two states for many years to come”.
Nuclear-powered submarines of Russia’s Northern Fleet have launched cruise missiles at sea targets as part of exercises in the Barents Sea, Russian news agencies reported on Wednesday, citing the fleet’s news service. Reuters reports further:
“The nuclear submarine missile cruisers … of Northern Fleet carried out practical missile firing at sea targets in the Barents Sea,” the Tass news agency reported, citing the statement from fleet.
The Severodvinsk and the Orel nuclear-powered submarines fired Kalibr and Granit cruise missiles a distance of about 170 km (106 miles) at a target simulating a detachment of landing ships of a mock enemy, the Interfax news agency reported.
“According to objective control data, the combat exercise was completed successfully,” Interfax said, citing the fleet statement. “The missile weapons used have once again confirmed their inherent characteristics and high reliability.”
The missile firing area was closed in advance to civilian shipping and aviation flights.
The Barents Sea in the Arctic Ocean is located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and is divided between Norwegian and Russian territorial waters.
Putin thanks Kim for ‘unwavering’ support on Ukraine
Putin has opened his talks with Kim by telling him of Moscow’s appreciation for Pyongyang’s support including on Ukraine, Russia’s Tass news agency reports. The Russian president said:
We highly appreciate your consistent and unwavering support for Russian policy, including in the Ukrainian direction.
Russia is fighting “decades of imposed US imperialist policies”, Putin reportedly told Kim.
Putin and Kim have now begun their official talks, news wires are reporting, after a welcome ceremony at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang.
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.
Wednesday’s agenda includes one-on-one discussions between the two leaders, as well as a gala concert, state reception, honour guards, document signings and a statement to the media, Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov as saying.
A Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s western region of Lviv, bordering Nato-member Poland, has injured one man and damaged a multi-storey residential building, the mayor of Lviv city said on Wednesday. Reuters reports:
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 wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
A 70-year-old man was hospitalised in a moderate condition, Sadovyi added. Lviv regional governor Maksym Kozytskyi said on Telegram that all five drones that Russia launched were destroyed by Ukraine’s air defence systems. The damage and injury were caused by falling debris.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Russia. Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war, that Russia launched against its smaller neighbour in February 2022.
Lviv city is the administrative centre of the Lviv region in western Ukraine.
China, which neighbours North Korea and to which Russia has also drawn closer after its invasion of Ukraine, has welcomed Putin’s trip to Pyongyang.
According to the state-run Global Times, Lin Jian, a spokesperson for Beijing’s foreign ministry, told reporters on Thursday that “China welcomes Russia to cement and grow ties with countries they have traditional friendship with.”
Wang Junsheng, a research fellow of East Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the paper the deepening of Russian-North Korean ties was unsurprising given the “targeting” of Pyongyang by the “US-led military alliances in north-east Asia”, Nato’s expansion in Europe and the Ukraine conflict.
Cui Heng, a research fellow from the Center for Russian Studies of East China Normal University, meanwhile told the paper it was a “rational choice” for Moscow and Pyongyang to cooperate. According to the Times, Cui said:
Any significant cooperation between Russia and North Korea could make the US concerned or even frightened. This means Washington’s approach in past decades has failed to weaken and isolate these two countries, as they are now standing closer with each other and becoming more powerful than before through cooperation.
Analysis
Justin McCurry
The number of countries prepared to afford Vladimir Putin the kind of reception he has received in North Korea has dwindled since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Now shunned by much of the world, the Russian leader nonetheless received the red-carpet treatment – and an embrace from his host, Kim Jong-un – in Pyongyang in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Today, though, the two leaders will be locked in talks on where next to take the deepening relationship between their countries – one necessitated by their growing diplomatic isolation.
Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy aide, told Russia’s Tass news agency that the summit could produce a treaty on a “comprehensive strategic partnership” – a document expected to accelerate and broaden cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow.
Information about their second meeting in nine months is coming from Russian and North Korean state media – so details of the talks are unlikely to emerge until the ink has dried on rumoured deals on economic and security ties.
Kremlin and North Korean watchers believe those agreements will almost certainly mean more weapons and munitions from Pyongyang for the war in Ukraine. Putin could reciprocate with food and energy assistance, as well as help with the North’s space surveillance programme, but may stop short of sharing sensitive weapon technology.
Despite their defiant rhetoric targeting the US and its Western allies, analysts say Kim and Putin are unlikely to realise Washington’s worst fears and enter into an official, Nato-style military alliance requiring them to come to each other’s defence in the event of a conflict.
Instead, their joint declaration could call for “elevated” levels of military, security and economic cooperation, as both countries attempt to limit the impact of international sanctions.
North Korean state media said Kim and Putin voiced their “pent-up inmost thoughts” as they were driven through the “charmingly lit” streets of Pyongyang early this morning. By the end of the day, we should have a clearer idea of how far they are willing to go to act on their shared frustrations.
The official meeting ceremony between Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin has begun in a square in Pyongyang, the Russian news wire Tass is reporting. Below you can see how the North Korean capital was preparing for the visit – we’ll bring you pics of the ceremony as soon as we get them.
A few more images from Pyongyang, where the streets were prepped in advance for Putin’s visit:
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