Russian President Vladimir Putin received North Korea’s top diplomat at the Kremlin on October 27 as Russian forces continued their push in eastern Ukraine, penetrating a key city amid fierce fighting.
North Korean media said Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui discussed “many future projects to constantly strengthen and develop” the bilateral relationship while also passing on leader Kim Jong Un’s “brotherly regard” to Putin. No further details were given.
North Korea has become a crucial backer of Russia’s nearly four-year invasion of Ukraine, sending artillery, missiles, and troops to its larger neighbor. Pyongyang in return has received Russian military technology and economic aid.
Choe’s visit comes as Russia struggles to maintain recruitment levels amid mounting losses and lower financial incentives. Russia last week said it would seek to use reservists to defend civilian infrastructure following a rise in Ukrainian long-range drone attacks.
Such a move would potentially allow Moscow to free up more troops to fight at the front, where it is suffering significant losses as it seeks to take well-defended Ukrainian territory. Russia is also reportedly seeking to recruit more foreign fighters to plug the gap.
North Korea has been Russia’s biggest supplier of foreign troops to date, sending a reported 11,000 servicemen last year to help Moscow push Ukrainian forces out of Russia’s Kursk region. North Korean media did not say whether Choe discussed sending more servicemen to Russia.
Despite its massive losses at the front, Russia’s armed forces continue to inch forward in eastern Ukraine. Some 200 Russian troops have entered the key logistics city of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region.
In his nightly address, Zelenskyy said that Russia has concentrated its largest attack forces outside Pokrovsk. He said there is currently “significant assault activity” around Pokrovsk, including inside the city, but gave no assessment of the situation.
Russia has been trying to take the city for more than a year.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he held a meeting with makers of long-range drones and missiles, saying he was ready to sign three-year contracts with the companies producing the most effective weapons. The Ukrainian leader said funding for the weapons has been secured.
Ukraine sees long-range weapons as a key tool in bringing Europe’s longest war in decades to a conclusion. Ukraine has been using domestically produced drones and missiles to conduct deep strikes against Russian oil refineries, a key source of state revenue. However, it has been seeking more powerful Western missiles, including the US-made Tomahawks, to destroy the facilities.
Russian oil exports account for about a third of total federal budget revenues and thus are key to funding the Kremlin’s war. The strikes on the refineries come amid falling oil prices and the toughest round of Western sanctions in months against Russia, compounding the country’s economic problems.
Last week, the United States sanctioned Russia’s top two oil producers and signaled that third parties buying their output — such as China and India — could face penalties. The US sanctions came on the heels of a similar step by the UK and were followed by EU sanctions on Russia’s oil industry.
“Global sanctions and our pinpoint precision are practically syncing up to end this war on terms fair for Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly address.
Earlier on October 27, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine and the European Union intend to prepare a cease-fire plan within seven to 10 days.
At a meeting in London last week of the Coalition of the Willing, a grouping of more than 20 nations backing Ukraine, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and EU leaders laid out four steps they hoped would force Putin to the negotiating table: supporting Ukraine financially with frozen Russian reserves, imposing tougher sanctions, supplying more long-range weapons, and delivering greater air defense.
Ever since taking office for the second time in January, US President Donald Trump has been seeking to get Putin to agree to a cease-fire but the Kremlin leader has rebuffed him each time, betting — experts say — that the Western coalition will fall apart with time.
Following his last call with Putin earlier this month, Trump initially said he would meet with the Russian leader in the coming weeks in Budapest but then later scrapped that, saying he saw no progress on peace.
Trump then imposed the potentially powerful oil sanctions, the first time he has levied penalties on Russia since returning to the White House.
Russia last week dispatched special envoy for investment and economic cooperation Kirill Dmitriev, a fluent English speaker who studied in the United States, to Washington for talks. It is unclear what the outcome of those talks were.
In a video he posted to Telegram on October 26, Dmitriev said Moscow was “committed to constructive dialogue and to clearly communicating Russia’s position.”
Amid the West seeming to close ranks against the Kremlin, Russia this week announced it had successfully tested a new nuclear capable intercontinental cruise missile, drawing criticism from Washington.
The Kremlin has repeatedly turned to nuclear saber-rattling during the war to undermine Western resolve and create divisions within the coalition. Trump has at times cautioned against sending powerful military aid to Ukraine, saying it could provoke nuclear war. However, this time he fired back at Putin.
“You’ve got to get the war ended. A war that should have taken one week is now in its soon fourth year,” Trump said while traveling from Kuala Lumpur to Tokyo. “That’s what you ought to do, instead of testing missiles.”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has warm ties with Trump and Putin, is due at the White House next week for talks that will almost certainly touch on the war in Ukraine.
Hungary stands to lose from the recent round of oil sanctions — which come into effect at the end of November — because it still buys Russian energy.
Orban will be seeking exemptions to the sanctions, his top diplomat said, but with the war approaching its fourth year, the Trump administration could question its determination to diversify.
“Hungary, unlike many of its neighbors, has not made any plans or any active steps” toward weaning itself off Russian energy supplies, US Ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker said in an interview with Fox News published on October 27.
