ADMIN
Putin thanked Kim for his 'unwavering' support for Ukraine
Russia's Tass news agency reported that Putin opened his talks with Kim by praising Moscow for its support of Pyongyang, including in Ukraine. The Russian President said:
We appreciate your consistent and unwavering support for Russian policies, including the Ukrainian side.
Putin told Kim that Russia was fighting against “decades of US imperialist policy”.
main event
Justin McCurry
China accounts for over 90% of North Korea's trade and is its most reliable aid donor and diplomatic ally. But as Vladimir Putin's visit to Pyongyang proves, the reclusive state's behavior is 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:
Open-ended talks between Putin and Kim have now ended, Tass news agency reported. They last for over an hour and a half.
Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said the two leaders would now meet face-to-face to discuss “the most important, most sensitive issues”.
Ukraine's air defenses have destroyed 19 out of 21 drones that Russia targeted the region overnight, Ukraine's air force said on Wednesday.
Kim says North Korea-Russia relations are entering an era of 'new prosperity'
It was Kim Jong-un's turn to speak during his meeting with Vladimir Putin and he told the Russian president that their two countries' relations were entering a period of “new prosperity,” according to Russian news agency Tass.
Kim also referred to Russia's role in “maintaining strategic balance in the world” and expressed support for “special operations,” which Moscow calls its invasion of Ukraine.
Pyongyang wants to strengthen “strategic” cooperation with Russia, Kim said:
The world situation is more complex and rapidly changing. In this situation, we want to strengthen strategic communication with Russia with the Russian leadership.
A few photos have begun to emerge from Putin's welcome ceremony at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, showing the Russian president and his host, Kim Jong-un, walking past a row of gray horses ridden by soldiers in formal uniform and smiling. Children hold balloons.
A bit more than Pyongyang, where Vladimir Putin told Kim Jong-un he hoped their next meeting would be “in Russia, in Moscow”, according to Russian news reports.
Putin said he “admired Pyongyang's transformation over the past 24 years” and was confident Wednesday's talks would be “productive,” the Tass news agency reported.
He also said that a new document had been prepared which would “form the basis of relations between the two states for many years to come”.
Nuclear-powered submarines of Russia's Northern Fleet fired cruise missiles at sea targets as part of exercises in the Barents Sea, Russia's news agency reported Wednesday, citing the fleet's news service. Reuters also reported:
“Northern Fleet's nuclear submarine missile cruisers fired practical missiles at maritime targets in the Barents Sea,” the Tas news agency said, citing a fleet statement.
The Severodvinsk and Orel nuclear-powered submarines fired Kalibr and Granit cruise missiles at a target about 170 km (106 miles) away, simulating a detachment of mock enemy landing craft, the Interfax news agency reported.
“According to objective control data, the combat exercise was successfully completed,” Interfax quoted the fleet statement as saying. “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 aircraft.
The Barents Sea in the Arctic Ocean lies off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and is divided between Norwegian and Russian territorial waters.
Putin thanked Kim for his 'unwavering' support for Ukraine
Russia's Tass news agency reported that Putin opened his talks with Kim by praising Moscow for its support of Pyongyang, including in Ukraine. The Russian President said:
We appreciate your consistent and unwavering support for Russian policies, including the Ukrainian side.
Putin told Kim that Russia was fighting against “decades of US imperialist policy”.
Putin and Kim have now begun their official talks after a welcoming ceremony at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, news cables are reporting.
Russian media photographs showed a large crowd of soldiers and civilians gathered in the square on the banks of the Taidong River, which runs through the capital, including children holding balloons and giant portraits of the two leaders, along with national flags adorning the Grand People's Study Hall.
Russia's Interfax news agency quoted Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign policy adviser, as saying Wednesday's agenda includes one-on-one talks between the two leaders, as well as a gala concert, state reception, honor guard, document signing and a statement to the media.
A Russian drone strike in Ukraine's western Lviv region, bordering NATO-member Poland, injured one person and damaged a high-rise residential building, the mayor of the city of Lviv said on Wednesday. Reuters reports:
The drone strike in the village of Malekhiv in the Lviv city district damaged many windows of other residential buildings, Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
A 70-year-old man was hospitalized in moderate condition, Sadovi added. Lviv regional governor Maksim Kozytskyi said in a telegram that all five drones launched by Russia were destroyed by Ukraine's air defense system. Falling debris has caused damage and injuries.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Russia. Both sides have denied targeting civilians in the war, which Russia launched against its smaller neighbor in February 2022.
The city of Lviv is the administrative center of Lviv Oblast in western Ukraine.
China, which is North Korea's neighbor and with which Russia has drawn closer after its invasion of Ukraine, welcomed Putin's visit to Pyongyang.
According to state management Global TimesBeijing's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters Thursday that “China welcomes Russia to cement and enhance ties with countries with which it has traditional friendship.”
Wang Junsheng, a research fellow in East Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the paper that “the deepening of Russia-North Korea ties was surprising given Pyongyang's “targeting” by the US-led military alliance in North-East Asia”, NATO's expansion into Europe and the Ukraine conflict. .
Qi Heng, a research fellow at East China Normal University's Center for Russian Studies, has already told the paper that it is a “logical 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 anxious or even afraid. This means that Washington's approach over the past few decades has failed to weaken and isolate these two countries, as they now stand closer to each other and become stronger than ever through cooperation.
Analysis
Justin McCurry
The number of countries prepared to extend the kind of reception Vladimir Putin has received in North Korea has dwindled since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Now estranged from much of the world, the Russian leader nevertheless received the red-carpet treatment in Pyongyang early Wednesday morning — and a hug from his host, Kim Jong-un.
Today, however, the two leaders will be locked in talks on where to take deepening ties between their countries – one necessitated by their growing diplomatic estrangement.
Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign policy aide, told Russia's TASS news agency that the summit could produce an agreement on a “comprehensive strategic partnership” – a document expected to accelerate and expand 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 dries on a rumored deal on economic and security ties.
The Kremlin and North Korea watchers believe the deals will almost certainly lead to more weapons and ammunition from Pyongyang for the war in Ukraine. Putin may support the North's space surveillance program, along with food and energy aid, but may stop sharing sensitive weapons technology.
Despite their hostile rhetoric aimed at the United States and its Western allies, analysts say Kim and Putin are unlikely to realize Washington's worst fears and enter into an official, NATO-style military alliance that would require them to come to each other's defense in the event of a conflict.
Instead, their joint declaration may call for “enhanced” levels of military, security and economic cooperation, as both countries seek to limit the impact of international sanctions.
North Korean state media said Kim and Putin voiced their “innermost thoughts” as they drove through the “charmingly lit” streets of Pyongyang this morning. At the end of the day, we should have a clear idea of how far they are willing to go to work on their shared frustration.
The official meeting between Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin has begun in a square in Pyongyang, Russian news wire Tass reports. Below you can see how the North Korean capital was preparing for the visit – we'll bring you photos from the event as soon as we get them.
A few more photos from Pyongyang, where the streets were prepared in advance for Putin's visit:
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