Important Takeaways:
- World on the brink as North Korea sends ‘cannon fodder’ troops to Ukraine
- The North Korean unit is expected to arrive in Ukraine as soon as next month, raising fears that Pyongyang is becoming an active combatant in the war.
- Last week, Putin made an official state visit to North Korea, the first time in 24 years that he had travelled to the country.
- The Russian leader and his host Kim Jong Un signed a defense pact on June 19 in Pyongyang, promising military assistance to one another.
- Within days of signing the agreement, North Korea has announced it will be sending a unit of military engineers to join Russia’s army on the ground in the Donetsk region.
- The country is already supplying Russia with ammunition and missiles and is reported to have shipped as many as 1.6 million artillery shells to Putin’s army.
- A spokesman for the Pentagon said North Korean troops would be sent to their slaughter and questioned the wisdom of the deployment.
- The military alliance between Putin and Kim states: “In case any one of the two sides is put in a state of war by an armed invasion from an individual state or several states, the other side shall provide military and other assistance with all means in its possession without delay.”
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- Russia said on Sunday that the United States was responsible for a Ukrainian attack on the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula with five U.S.-supplied missiles that killed four people, including two children, and injured 151 more.
- The Russian Defense Ministry said four of the U.S.-delivered Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles, equipped with cluster warheads, were shot down by air defense systems and the ammunition of a fifth had detonated in mid-air.
- Footage on Russian state television showed people running from a beach and some people being carried off on sun loungers.
- The Defense ministry said U.S. specialists had set the missiles’ flight coordinates on the basis of information from U.S. spy satellites, meaning Washington was directly responsible.
- Reuters was unable to immediately verify battlefield reports from either side.
- Russia will respond to Sunday’s attack, the Defense Ministry said, without elaborating. The Kremlin said Putin had been “in constant contact with the military” since the attack.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- His comments come after Seoul said it was considering such a possibility, in response to Russia and North Korea’s new pact to help each other in the event of “aggression” against either country.
- Moscow “will… [make] decisions which are unlikely to please the current leadership of South Korea” if Seoul decides to supply arms to Kyiv
- Mr. Putin also warned that Moscow is willing to arm Pyongyang if the US and its allies continue supplying Ukraine with weapons.
- Following Mr. Putin’s remarks, South Korea’s presidential office said on Friday it would consider “various options” in supplying arms to Ukraine and its stance will “depend on how Russia approaches this issue.”
- The two Koreas are still technically at war and maintain a heavily guarded border, where tensions have worsened in recent weeks.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- Putin offered to supply fossil fuels including natural gas to Vietnam for the long term during a state visit that comes as Moscow is seeking to bolster ties in Asia to offset its growing international isolation over its military actions in Ukraine.
- The two countries also agreed to work on a roadmap for a nuclear science and technology center in Vietnam.
- Of the 12 publicly announced agreements, none overtly pertained to defense. But Lam said there were other deals that were not made public.
- Putin’s recent visits to China and now North Korea and Vietnam are attempts to “break the international isolation,”
- Russia is the biggest supplier of military equipment to the Southeast Asian nation, and Russian oil exploration technologies help maintain Vietnam’s sovereignty claims in the contested South China Sea.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed an agreement Wednesday that pledges mutual aid if either country faces “aggression,” a strategic pact that comes as both face escalating standoffs with the West.
- Details of the deal were not immediately clear, but it could mark the strongest connection between Moscow and Pyongyang since the end of the Cold War. Both leaders described it as a major upgrade of their relations, covering security, trade, investment, cultural and humanitarian ties.
- The summit came as Putin visited North Korea for the first time in 24 years and the U.S. and its allies expressed growing concerns over a possible arms arrangement in which Pyongyang provides Moscow with badly needed munitions for its war in Ukraine, in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers that could enhance the threat posed by Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile program.
- Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years, with the pace of both Kim’s weapons tests and combined military exercises involving the U.S., South Korea and Japan intensifying in a tit-for-tat cycle. The Koreas also have engaged in Cold War-style psychological warfare.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- The statement by Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council and Vladimir Putin’s predecessor as president, came as the West sharply escalated sanctions on Moscow in efforts to degrade its ability to wage war in Ukraine.
- “We need to (respond). Not only the authorities, the state, but all our people in general. After all, they – the U.S. and its crappy allies – have declared a war on us without rules!” Medvedev wrote on his official Telegram channel, which has over 1.3 million followers.
- “Every day we should try to do maximum harm to those countries that have imposed these restrictions. Harm their economies, their institutions and their rulers. Harm the well-being of their citizens, their confidence in the future.”
- Diplomats say Medvedev gives a flavor of hardline and high level thinking in the Kremlin, though Kyiv and Kremlin critics play down his influence, casting him as a scaremonger whose job is to deter Western action over Ukraine.
- In his latest comments he spoke of the need to find critical vulnerabilities in Western economies, to target energy, industry, transport, banking and social services, and to stir up social tensions.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- A possible impending visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to North Korea could deepen military ties between the two countries in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, officials of South Korea and the United States warned on Friday.
- On Wednesday, a senior official at Seoul’s presidential office said Putin was expected to visit North Korea “in the coming days”.
- North Korea and Russia have denied arms deals but vowed to deepen cooperation across the board, including in military relations.
- The U.S. intelligence community assesses, however, that these relationships – including that between Moscow and Pyongyang – will remain “far short” of formal alliances because parochial interests and wariness of each other will most likely limit their cooperation, Haines said.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskiy will sign a 10-year bilateral security agreement at the G7 summit in Italy, as arguments continued on the sidelines about how the west can provide a Donald Trump-proof $50bn loan to Ukraine.
- As with the other bilateral pacts, the agreement with the US will not require America to come to Ukraine’s defense if attacked. But it could make it easier for Ukraine to enter into peace negotiations with Russia, as Kyiv would have some assurance about the help it would receive in the event of a further Russian attack.
- The US-Ukraine agreement does not require the authorization of Congress and could be undone by a future Trump administration.
- Biden has said previously that guarantees for Ukraine would be equivalent to those to Israel, covering financial and military assistance as well as the possibility of the joint weapons production.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- In a statement to RIA Novosti published on Monday, Kartapolov clarified that if the F-16s “are not used for their intended purpose” or are simply held in storage at foreign airbases with the intent to transfer them to Ukraine, where they will be equipped, maintained, and flown from Ukrainian airfields, then Russia would have no claims against its “former partners” and would not target them.
- However, if the jets take off from foreign bases and carry out sorties and strikes against Russian forces, both the fighter planes and the airfields they are stationed at will be “legitimate targets,” according to Kartapolov.
- As for [our ability] to shoot [them] down, we can shoot down anyone, anywhere,” the MP insisted. Kartapolov’s statement comes after the chief of aviation of Ukraine’s Air Force Command, Sergey Golubtsov, stated in an interview with Radio Liberty on Sunday that some of the F-16 fighter jets donated to Kiev by the West would be stationed at foreign airbases.
- Golubtsov stated that so far four countries have agreed to transfer F-16s to Ukraine, namely Belgium, Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands. While he did not specify exactly how many aircraft would be donated, he claimed it was between 30 and 40 planes, with potentially more to come in the future.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- Russia and China, which hold veto powers in the U.N. Security Council, raised concerns on Thursday with a U.S. draft resolution that would back a proposal -outlined by President Joe Biden – for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas.
- The council’s only Arab member, Algeria, also signaled it was not ready to back the text, diplomats said. A resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the U.S., France, Britain, China or Russia to pass.
- The current draft welcomes the ceasefire proposal, describes it as “acceptable” to Israel, “calls upon Hamas to also accept it, and urges both parties to fully implement its terms without delay and without condition.”
- Some council members have raised questions about whether Israel has actually accepted the plan and want the council to stick to a demand made in March for an immediate ceasefire and unconditional release of all hostages, diplomats said.
Read the original article by clicking here.
