North Korean leader Kim Jong Un plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia this month to discuss the possibility of supplying weapons against Ukraine, The New York Times reported on Monday, citing U.S. and allied sources.
Kim would travel from Pyongyang, probably by armored train, to Vladivostok, on the Pacific coast of Russia, where he would meet with Putin, the newspaper said.
Putin wants Kim to send Russia artillery shells and antitank missiles to Moscow, while the North Korean leader would like Russia to provide Pyongyang with advanced technology for satellites and nuclear-powered submarines, the officials said. Kim is also seeking food aid for his impoverished nation.
The planned trip would come as Russia discusses holding joint military exercises with North Korea.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Adrienne Watson, a National Security Council spokeswoman, acknowledged that the United States expected “leader-level diplomatic engagement” on the issue of arms sales to take place between Russia and North Korea, officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“We urge the DPRK to cease its arms negotiations with Russia and abide by the public commitments that Pyongyang has made to not provide or sell arms to Russia,” she said in a statement after the Times story was published.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu met Kim in July in North Korea seeking artillery ammunition for Russia’s war against Ukraine.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Wednesday that the United States was concerned that arms negotiations between the two countries were advancing actively.
Grain deal flounders
Putin said Monday that the U.N.-brokered Black Sea grain deal that allowed Ukraine to export grain safely through the Black Sea corridor won’t be restored until the West honors Moscow’s terms on its own agricultural exports.
During a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Russian resort of Sochi on Monday, Putin maintained that unless restrictions on shipping and insurance that are hampering Russia’s agricultural trade are lifted, Russia would not restore the deal.
Russia bowed out of the Black Sea grain deal in July, complaining that a parallel deal promising to remove obstacles to Russian exports of food and fertilizer had not materialized.
Putin reiterated those complaints Monday adding, if Moscow’s terms were satisfied, Russia could return to the deal “within days.”
His remarks dashed hopes that his talks with Erdogan could revive the agreement, seen as vital for global food supplies, especially in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
However, Erdogan said he is still hopeful that a breakthrough could come soon. He said Turkey and the U.N. have put together a new package of proposals to unblock the issue.
“I believe that we will reach a solution that will meet the expectations in a short time,” Erdogan told reporters alongside Putin, after the leaders held talks in Sochi.
The Turkish president also said that Ukraine should soften its negotiating position against Russia in talks over reviving a grain export deal.
“Ukraine needs to especially soften its approaches in order for it to be possible for joint steps to be taken with Russia,” Erdogan said.
He said more grain needed to be sent to Africa rather than European countries.
The meeting in Sochi came after talks by the foreign ministers of Russia and Turkey last week, after which Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he had given Turkey a list of Russian demands to restart the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
Ukrainian advances
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited combat brigades Monday in Donetsk region.
“It is extremely important to support our warriors, to communicate with the brigade and battalion commanders. It is very, very useful to hear from those who are going into battle directly what exactly is lacking, what exactly is enough and what exactly needs to be changed,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Monday that Ukrainian forces have made advances around the villages of Novodanylivka and Novoprokopivka in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia.
She added that Ukraine has so far recaptured 47 square kilometers of land around Bakhmut since the beginning of its counteroffensive in June.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday its forces destroyed four Ukrainian high-speed military boats in the northwestern part of the Black Sea. In a Telegram post, the Russian ministry said the boats were carrying Ukrainian troops heading for the Crimean coast.
Ukraine’s air force issued multiple warnings overnight for Russian drones heading toward parts of Ukraine, including the Izmail area along the Danube River, which has been key to grain exports during the past few months.
Oleh Kiper, governor of Odesa region, said on Telegram that Ukrainian air defenses shot down 17 Russian drones, but said there was damage on the ground to warehouses, production buildings and agricultural machinery in Izmail. Kiper said falling debris from the drones also caused several fires.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said on Facebook that according to Ukraine’s state border guard service, Russian drones that were part of the attack on Izmail fell and detonated on the territory of neighboring Romania, a NATO member.
Romania’s Defense Ministry said it monitored the attack as it was happening, but that the “drone attacks by the Russian Federation did not pose any direct military threats against our national territory or Romania’s territorial waters.”
“The Ministry of National Defense firmly condemns the attacks targeting the Ukrainian sites and civilian infrastructure elements, considering them unjustified and breaking all international humanitarian rules,” it said in a statement.
Defense leadership
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov announced Monday he submitted a letter of resignation to the chairman of the country’s parliament, a day after Zelenskyy said he would replace Reznikov with Rustem Umerov.
“It was an honor to serve the Ukrainian people and work for the #UAarmy for the last 22 months, the toughest period of Ukraine’s modern history,” Reznikov said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Reznikov has played a pivotal role in securing billions of dollars’ worth of Western military aid to help the war effort. However, during his time in office, the Defense Ministry has been tarnished by graft allegations Reznikov has described as smears.
Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Sunday that he expects parliament to give its approval to Umerov, a Crimean Tatar and a former lawmaker who is currently in charge of Ukraine’s main privatization fund.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
