Russian President Vladimir Putin met North Korea’s foreign minister in the Kremlin on Monday at a time of mounting concern in the West that North Korean soldiers are about to enter the Ukraine war on Moscow’s side.
Russian forces attacked Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, and the surrounding region with guided aerial bombs on Sunday, wounding at least 15 people, said Kharkiv Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov.
South Korea and the European Union on Monday jointly condemned North Korea’s supply of weaponry to Moscow and demanded that it withdraw troops it has sent as Russia wages war against Ukraine.
Putin hosts North Korean foreign minister on Russia’s Unity Day
Russian President Vladimir Putin met North Korea’s foreign minister in the Kremlin on Monday at a time of mounting concern in the West that North Korean soldiers are about to enter the Ukraine war on Moscow’s side.
Video of the meeting showed the pair shaking hands for a full minute as Putin greeted Choe Son-hui. Putin noted that they were meeting on Russia’s National Unity Day, a public holiday, and Choe conveyed “sincere, warm, comradely greetings” from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The US says North Korea has sent some 10,000 troops to Russia, including 8,000 to the western Kursk region where Russia is still battling to expel Ukrainian troops who broke across the border in August.
Putin, who signed a treaty with Kim in June that includes a mutual defence clause, has neither confirmed nor denied the North Korean troop presence. He has said that Russia is free to implement the pact as it sees fit.
The Russian leader briefly alluded to the military situation in Kursk when he met youth volunteers earlier on Monday, telling them: “When the enemy is cleaned out from the region, there will be lots of work for you to do.”
In Kyiv, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said he had discussed with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock the “need for decisive action” in response to North Korean involvement in the war in Ukraine.
He said North Korean troops were waging “an aggressive war in Europe against a sovereign European state”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week urged Kyiv’s allies to stop just “watching” and start taking action to tackle the presence of the North Koreans.
The US accused Russia and China at the UN Security Council on Monday of “shamelessly protecting” and emboldening North Korea to further violate United Nations sanctions.
In Seoul, South Korea and the European Union jointly condemned North Korea’s “unlawful arms transfers to the Russian Federation for its use in attacking Ukraine” and demanded that it withdraw its troops.
North Korea’s Choe has been in Russia for almost a week, having arrived in the far eastern port of Vladivostok last Tuesday on her second trip to the country in six weeks.
Last Friday, Choe told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that their countries enjoyed relations of “invincible military comradeship” and that North Korea would stand alongside Russia “until the day of victory” in Ukraine.
The Kremlin had said last week there were no plans for Putin to meet Choe.
The US and South Korea say North Korea has shipped ballistic missiles, anti-tank rockets and millions of rounds of ammunition for Russia to use against Ukraine. Moscow and Pyongyang have denied weapons transfers.
Russian air attacks on Ukraine’s Kharkiv wound at least 15
Russian forces attacked Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, and the surrounding region with guided aerial bombs on Sunday, wounding at least 15 people, said Kharkiv Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov.
Syniehubov, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the attack damaged two residential buildings and windows of an infrastructure facility, two supermarkets, a cafe, 21 kiosks and a shopping centre.
There were four interior ministry employees among those injured in Kharkiv, said the governor.
The eastern city has become a frequent target of Russian air attacks since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Syniehubov said Russian forces had badly damaged a five-storey apartment building in Kivsharivka, a small town near Kupiansk, east of Kharkiv.
Volodymyr Tymoshko, the head of the regional police, said three residents died in the attack. A woman was rescued overnight, but further such efforts were hampered by ongoing Russian attacks, said regional authorities.
EU and South Korea urge withdrawal of North Korean troops
South Korea and the European Union on Monday jointly condemned North Korea’s supply of weaponry to Moscow and demanded that it withdraw troops it has sent as Russia wages war against Ukraine.
The EU and South Korea were holding their first “Strategic Dialogue” meeting in Seoul, shortly after Washington and Seoul sounded the alarm about North Korea sending soldiers to help Russia.
In a joint statement, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul condemned the North’s “unlawful arms transfers to the Russian Federation for its use in attacking Ukraine”.
They demanded an end to the “unlawful military cooperation” and a withdrawal of the North Korean forces.
Borrell also met South Korean Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun.
“Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is an existential threat,” said Borrell in a post on X that included a photo of him shaking hands with Kim. “The Republic of Korea is best positioned to understand it. We are united in our support to Ukraine. I encouraged them to step it up.”
The two countries also signed a security and defence partnership covering 15 areas including cyber security and disarmament.
Cho said last week, when asked whether Seoul could send weapons to Ukraine in response to North Korea aiding Russia, that all possible scenarios were under consideration.
South Korea has provided non-lethal aid to Ukraine, including mine clearance equipment, but rebuffed requests for weapons.
Seoul expects the North to be compensated by Moscow with military and civilian technology, as it races to launch a spy satellite and upgrade its missile capabilities.
Zelensky voices solidarity with Moldova’s Sandu after election win
Zelensky congratulated Moldova’s Maia Sandu on her presidential election victory and reaffirmed Kyiv’s commitment to jointly work on a common goal towards European Union membership.
Sandu, the pro-Western incumbent who has accelerated Moldova’s push to leave Moscow’s orbit, claimed victory in Sunday’s closely fought runoff, defeating Alexandr Stoianoglo, who was backed by the traditionally pro-Russian Socialist Party.
“On behalf of the Ukrainian people I expressed our solidarity with the European choice of the Moldovan people,” said Zelensky on X following a phone conversation with Sandu.
Zelensky said he had coordinated the “next steps” on the EU accession path with Sandu.
The Central Electoral Commission said Sandu, a former World Bank adviser, had won 55.3% of the vote. However, she owed her victory to Moldova’s large expatriate electorate, picking up more than 80% support among citizens living abroad, while Stoianoglo secured 51.33% within the country’s borders.
Ukraine ‘not opposed to Qatar negotiating energy security’
Ukraine would not be opposed if Qatar or any other country were to negotiate an agreement on energy security via separate talks with Ukraine and Russia, said a top Ukrainian presidential official in a televised interview released on Monday.
But Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s chief of staff, said there was no such agreement in place.
“We held thematic conferences — the first on energy security, co-organised by Qatar,” said Yermak.
“After that, we said that if Qatar or another country is ready to implement these agreements [reached at the conference] through deals with Ukraine separately and with Russia separately, please do so.”
Yermak did not specify which agreements might be in question, but said no agreement had been reached yet and that Kyiv was not negotiating directly with Moscow, which began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The Ukrainian presidential office said in late August that about 40 countries had taken part in an online conference organised by Qatar and that the main topic was improving the security of the Ukrainian energy system against Russian strikes.
Since March, Russia has carried out about 10 big missile attacks on the Ukrainian energy system, causing Ukraine to lose almost half of its generating capacity.
Germany assures Kyiv of support ahead of US vote
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Kyiv on Monday pledging Berlin’s continued backing for Ukraine, amid disquiet over the future of Washington’s support as the US election looms.
Baerbock said Ukraine, facing its third winter of war, needed support to ensure its very survival as North Korea’s military involvement and Russian airstrikes on civilian infrastructure exacerbated the conflict.
Her visit comes on the eve of the US presidential election, in which a win for Republican candidate Donald Trump could cast doubt on future support from Ukraine’s top military backer.
“We are countering this brutality with our humanity and support so that Ukrainians can not only survive the winter, but so that their country can survive. Because they are also defending the freedom of all of us in Europe,” said Baerbock, embarking on her eighth visit to Ukraine.
Germany has emerged as Ukraine’s top donor of military aid in Europe and has closely coordinated its support with Washington.
However, if Trump beats Democrat Kamala Harris in Tuesday’s election, this close coordination could falter. Trump has criticised the level of US support for Kyiv and declined to say he wants Ukraine to win the war, which he says he would end quickly by pushing for a negotiated settlement.
Russian drone attack sparks park fire in Kyiv
Debris from destroyed Russian drones sparked park and grass fires in Kyiv, said the mayor of the Ukrainian capital on Monday, in what was Moscow’s third drone attack on the city in as many nights.
“Emergency crews have been dispatched,” said Mayor Vitali Klitschko on the Telegram messaging app.
The drone wreckage caused a fire in the Muromets park in the Desnianskyi district in Kyiv’s northeast and set some grass ablaze on the embankment of the Dnipro River across from the park.
There was no immediate information about potential injuries. DM