Ukraine war briefing: Kim Jong-un vows ongoing support for Russia’s ‘just cause’
www.theguardian.com
Sun, 09 Feb 2025 04:08:37 +0200
North Korean leader also pledged further development of nuclear forces UK foreign secretary says no imminent peace talks with Russia.
What we know on day 1,082See all our Ukraine war coverageNorth Korean leader Kim Jongun has pledged his ongoing support of Russias just cause in its war with Ukraine.
Kim said the army and people of North Korea will invariably support and encourage the just cause of the Russian army and people to defend their sovereignty, security and territorial integrity.
In response to the trilateral military cooperation among the US, Japan and South Korea, Kim reiterated the countrys unshakable policy of more highly developing the nuclear forces.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed this week that North Korean troops have returned to the frontline in Russias Kursk region, after reports Moscow had withdrawn them due to heavy losses.
Last month, South Korea said it suspected North Korea of preparing to send more troops to Russia, in addition to about 11,000 soldiers who had been sent to bolster Moscows forces in the nearthreeyear war.UK foreign secretary David Lammy has said there would be no imminent end to fighting in Ukraine despite Donald Trumps promises to broker a swift end to the conflict.
I am not sure we are weeks away from peace talks.
And I say that because our assessment, which Im quite sure the US shares, is that Vladimir Putin shows absolutely no appetite for negotiation and to bring this war to an end, Lammy said after meeting Zelenskyy and senior Ukrainian officials in Kyiv.
British prime minister Keir Starmer, who has said the UK will play a full part in any future security guarantees, has not ruled out sending British troops into Ukraine to act as peacekeepers in the event of a ceasefire with Russia.
But Lammy said discussions with European and G7 allies over what type of guarantees might be necessary would run for some months yet and it was premature to anticipate what role the UK would play.Russia says it sees no positive steps from the new US administration on disarmament, RIA state news agency reports.
Gennady Gatilov, Russias permanent representative to the UN, said in an interview Russia was ready to maintain smooth relations of cooperation with any American administration.
We would be ready to do this within the framework of the Conference on Disarmament So far, we do not see any positive progress in this regard in Geneva, Gatilov said.Zelenskyy says he has met the chair of Natos military committee to review the capacities of Ukraines longrange weaponry, in a post on X.
During a visit with Giuseppe Cavo Dragone to a defence industry enterprise, Zelenskyy confirmed key topics of discussion included continued military assistance from Nato member states and direct investments in domestic production of longrange drones.A Russian telecoms cable in the Baltic Sea was damaged by an external impact, Russian state media news agency Tass reported.
The countrys stateowned Rostelecom company said restoration work was under way but did not provide further details and it was unclear when the damage occurred.
The Baltic Sea region has been on high alert after a string of outages affecting power cables, telecom links and gas pipelines between the Baltics and Sweden or Finland, leading to increased surveillance operations by Nato members.
All were believed to have been caused by ships dragging anchors along the seabed following Russias invasion of Ukraine.
Russia has denied any involvement.
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