Russia-Ukraine warfare stay: Putin praises North Korea’s ‘firm support’ for warfare forward of Pyongyang go to

China has urged Nato to “stop shifting blame” over the warfare in Ukraine after the western army alliance’s chief accused Beijing of worsening the battle by means of assist of Russia.

Nato’s secretary basic, Jens Stoltenberg, on Monday known as for China to face penalties for what US officers have known as a significant export push to rebuild Russia’s defence trade.

G7 overseas ministers have expressed “strong concern” about transfers of twin use supplies and weapons elements from Chinese language companies to Russia being utilized by Moscow for its army growth.

On Tuesday, Beijing hit again, saying Nato “should engage in self-reflection rather than arbitrary smears and attacks on China”.

“We advise (Nato) to stop shifting blame and sowing discord, not add fuel to the fire and instigate confrontation, but rather do something practical for the political settlement of the crisis,” Chinese language overseas ministry spokesperson Lin Jian advised journalists.

Domestically, Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has framed Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine – which he describes as a particular army operation – as a defensive transfer towards an increasing Nato.

The BBC’s stay weblog has an attention-grabbing submit on the place Vladimir Putin could also be staying throughout his uncommon journey to North Korea. It reads:

There are studies Putin shall be staying at the Kumsusan guesthouse in Pyongyang, which additionally housed Chinese language chief Xi Jinping throughout a 2019 state go to to North Korea in 2019.

The mansion is situated close to the Kumsusan Palace of the Solar, the place Kim Jong-un’s father Kim Jong Il, and grandfather Kim Il Sung, lie in state.

In response to specialist website NK Information, the guesthouse was constructed over a number of months, simply in time for Xi’s go to.

Photographs of the visitor home inside from North Korean state media confirmed plush crimson couches, wooden panel partitions, and a mirrored ceiling with chandeliers.

A drone assault that set on hearth oil storage websites in Russia’s southern Rostov area in a single day was performed by the Safety Service of Ukraine (SBU), an intelligence supply has advised Reuters.

Russian officers mentioned earlier that a number of oil storage tanks had caught hearth after a drone assault within the city of Azov.

The supply advised Reuters the assault struck the Azovskaya and Azovnefteprodukt depots which have a complete of twenty-two gas tanks. These claims haven’t been independently verified by the Guardian.

Ukraine didn’t instantly declare accountability however it has carried out related assaults on Russian vitality amenities earlier than, arguing they’re honest targets provided that they gas Moscow’s army.

Nato’s outgoing secretary basic, Jens Stoltenberg, has mentioned that greater than 20 of the alliance’s 32 members had been on observe to satisfy a decade-old pledge to spend no less than 2% of GDP on defence.

Stoltenberg advised the US president, Joe Biden, on the White Home that the variety of Nato allies now assembly that spending goal compares to lower than 10 members 5 years in the past.

In a gathering with Biden, within the Oval Workplace, Stoltenberg mentioned:

Twenty-three allies are going to spend two% of GDP or extra on defence this 12 months.

Nato allies are this 12 months rising defence spending by 18%. That’s the most important enhance in a long time.

Subsequent month Nato hosts its annual summit in Washington DC towards a backdrop of the American election, which many pollsters say is simply too near name at this stage.

The previous US president Donald Trump, who’s difficult Biden to the White Home once more, has repeatedly voiced scepticism concerning the worth of the alliance and complained about ranges of defence spending by its largely European members.

Andrew Roth is the Guardian’s Moscow correspondent

South Korean defence minister Shin Wonsik mentioned in an interview with Bloomberg Information that Seoul had recognized no less than 10,000 delivery containers suspected to be containing artillery ammunition and different weapons despatched from North Korea to Russia.

These containers might include as a lot as 4.8m shells, Shin mentioned. EU international locations have struggled to satisfy the objective of supplying 1m artillery shells to Ukraine over the previous 12 months, sending simply half of that quantity.

“Putin is expected to seek closer security cooperation with North Korea, especially military supplies such as artillery shells that are necessary to seize a chance to win,” Shin advised Bloomberg Information.

Vladimir Putin made a stop-off in Russia’s far east on Tuesday en path to a summit with North Korean chief Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang, Russian state media reported.

Putin’s journey to the diamond-producing Republic of Sakha, Russia’s largest area by space, was his first go to there since 2014, Tass information company mentioned.

He was because of maintain a collection of conferences, together with with the regional chief, earlier than flying to North Korea afterward Tuesday for talks prone to embrace the signing of a partnership settlement with the remoted nation.

It’s unclear what time precisely the Russian chief shall be arriving in Pyongyang as we speak. It’s anticipated to be within the night, native time. Tomorrow would be the key day of his state go to, when there shall be an official ceremony and Putin will reportedly obtain a guard of honour.

The final time Putin visited North Korea on a presidential journey was in 2000, when he met Kim’s late father, Kim Jong-il.

Nato’s outgoing secretary basic has known as for China to face penalties if it retains up assist to Russia as he trumpeted a pointy enhance in allies’ defence spending for the reason that invasion of Ukraine.

Jens Stoltenberg mentioned that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s go to this week to North Korea, which has equipped shells to Moscow regardless of being beneath UN sanctions, additional confirmed how Moscow was “dependent” on authoritarian leaders.

Stoltenberg mentioned that Kyiv wanted predictable and regular army funding as he hailed the uptick in Nato member defence budgets – addressing a key issue behind Donald Trump’s skepticism about serving to Ukraine.

Nato subsequent month celebrates its seventy fifth anniversary with a summit in Washington that goals to ship a decisive long-term message of assist for Ukraine forward of President Joe Biden’s reelection struggle towards Republican candidate Trump in November.

“The more credible our long-term support, the quicker Moscow will realize it cannot wait us out,” Stoltenberg, a former Norwegian prime minister, mentioned on a go to to the US capital to put the groundwork.

“It may seem like a paradox, but the path to peace is more weapons for Ukraine,” he mentioned.

In 2023, Stoltenberg was requested to increase his tenure as Nato’s secretary basic for an additional 12 months till October 2024 after members of the western army alliance did not agree on a substitute.

It was reported earlier as we speak that Hungary had dropped its opposition to Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte as the following Nato secretary-general. Slovakia can be ready to assist Rutte as the following Nato chief, Slovak President Peter Pellegrini mentioned on Tuesday.

Listed below are some quotes from Vladimir Putin’s letter printed by North Korean state media forward of his deliberate go to to North Korea later as we speak. He wrote:

We are going to develop different mechanisms of commerce and mutual settlements that aren’t managed by the west, and collectively resist illegitimate unilateral restrictions.

And on the identical time – we are going to construct an structure of equal and indivisible safety in Eurasia.

The Russian president additionally vowed assist for Pyongyang’s efforts to defend its pursuits regardless of what he known as “US pressure, blackmail and military threats”. The letter was printed in North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun, the ruling Employees’ Social gathering mouthpiece.

North Korean state media additionally printed articles praising Russia and supporting Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which was launched in February 2022.

“The Korean people will always be on the side of the Russian government and people, extending full support and solidarity to their struggle to defend the national sovereignty and security interests,” the Korean Central information company (KCNA) mentioned in a commentary.

US state division spokesperson Matthew Miller repeated expenses on Monday that North Korea had equipped “dozens of ballistic missiles and over 11,000 containers of munitions to Russia” to be used in Ukraine.

He mentioned the US had seen Putin “get incredibly desperate over the past few months” and look to Iran and North Korea to make up for tools misplaced on the battlefield. Moscow and Pyongyang have denied arms transfers.

White Home ‘involved’ about ‘deepening relationship’ between Russia and North Korea

Andrew Roth

Andrew Roth is the Guardian’s Moscow correspondent

The White Home mentioned on Monday that Washington is apprehensive over nearer ties between Russia and North Korea.

“We’re not concerned about the trip [by Putin],” nationwide safety council spokesperson, John Kirby, advised reporters Monday. “What we are concerned about is the deepening relationship between these two countries.”

Kirby mentioned the concern was not simply that “North Korean ballistic missiles are still being used to hit Ukrainian targets, but because there could be some reciprocity here that could affect security on the Korean peninsula”.

Hiya and welcome to the Guardian’s stay protection of the warfare in Ukraine. The time has simply gone previous 10:30am in Kyiv.

Vladimir Putin has praised North Korea for “firmly supporting” Moscow’s warfare in Ukraine, in an article written for Korea’s Central information company (KCNA) forward of a uncommon diplomatic go to to Pyongyang on Tuesday.

“We highly appreciate that the DPRK (North Korea) is firmly supporting the special military operations of Russia being conducted in Ukraine,” the Russian president wrote.

The 2 international locations are “now actively developing the many-sided partnership,” Putin wrote, pointing to, for instance, the truth that Moscow and Kim Jong-un’s regime have been “maintaining the common line and stand at the UN”.

The journey “will put bilateral cooperation on to a higher level with our joint efforts and this will contribute to developing reciprocal and equal cooperation between Russia and the DPRK,” the Russian chief wrote, in line with KCNA.

Putin is anticipated to reach in North Korea this night (native time) for his first go to to the remoted nation in 24 years and can keep for a few day earlier than departing to Vietnam.

North Korean chief Kim Jong-un prolonged an invite to Putin throughout a go to to Russia’s far east final September.

North Korea has equipped Russia with hundreds of thousands of rounds of Soviet-era artillery munitions as a vital lifeline to prop up the Russian army marketing campaign in Ukraine. The US secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin, final month advised lawmakers that the provides of munitions and missiles, in addition to Iranian drones, had helped the Russian army “get back up on their feet”.

North Korea has additionally supplied Russia with ballistic missiles and digital tools used within the warfare effort. In return, Russia is believed to have supplied support to North Korea’s satellite tv for pc programme, in addition to different arms, financial support and diplomatic assist (you possibly can learn extra on the story right here).

We’ll deliver you the newest on Putin’s go to because it occurs. In different developments:

• An in a single day drone assault set a number of oil storage tanks ablaze close to the city of Azov in southern Russia on Tuesday, sparking a big hearth, native officers mentioned. “Oil product tanks caught fire in Azov as a result of a drone attack. According to preliminary data, there were no casualties,” the governor of the native Rostov area, Vasily Golubev, wrote on Telegram.

• Hungary has dropped its opposition to Mark Rutte as the following Nato secretary-general, Dutch media reported on Tuesday, after the outgoing Dutch prime minister and his Hungarian counterpart met on the sidelines of a EU leaders assembly in Brussels. Citing sources, Dutch retailers NOS and RTL reported that Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán didn’t reiterate his demand for an apology from Rutte for what Orban described final month as “problematic” opinions on Hungary. The apology had been one of many two circumstances Hungary had put ahead for approving Rutte because the successor to Jens Stoltenberg on the helm of Nato. The opposite – the assure that Hungary wouldn’t have to supply funding for Ukraine or ship personnel to the war-torn nation – was met final week by Stoltenberg, Reuters reported.

• A Russian occupation official mentioned on Monday that combating was gripping components of Ukraine’s north-eastern Kharkiv area, with Ukraine’s army pouring males and tools into the contested space. “There is fighting still going on in the Kharkiv sector. The fiercest clashes are in Vovchansk and near Lyptsy,” Vitaly Ganchev advised Russian information companies.

• Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, mentioned Ukrainian forces had been progressively pushing Russian troops out of components of Kharkiv they’ve fought over since Might. His prime commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, predicted the Russians would attempt to press ahead pending the arrival in Ukraine of subtle western tools, together with US-made F-16 fighter jets. Syrskyi additionally mentioned Russian forces had been concentrating their firepower on the Donetsk area, notably on the Pokrovsk entrance.