DPRK says it will stand with Russia until victory in Ukraine as Moscow says it carried out 44 “group strikes” between October 26 and November 1
North Korea will support Russia in the Ukraine conflict for as long as it takes, Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui has said, adding that Pyongyang has no doubts that Moscow will emerge victorious.
Speaking at a meeting with her Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Friday, Choe noted that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “gave us an order to firmly and powerfully support and assist the Russian army and the Russian people in their holy war.”
North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui. © Sputnik/Russian Foreign Ministry
According to the minister, North Korea has no doubt that under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin “the Russian army and people will achieve a great victory in its struggle to protect its sovereign rights and security interests.” “We reaffirm that we will always adamantly stand by our Russian comrades until the victory day.”
She also remarked that Russia and North Korea are developing relations in all spheres, including defense, based on the landmark Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership that Moscow and Pyongyang signed in June. The two countries are now embarking on the mission of “further coordinating our foreign policy position… and advance our interactions even further in all areas, as well as jointly and effectively responding to all international issues on all international platforms,” she said.
Meanwhile, Lavrov also touted the bilateral relations, saying they had reached “an unprecedentedly high level.” He thanked Pyongyang for a “principled stance on the events in Ukraine,” which he said were the result of NATO expansion and a campaign to encourage Kiev to “wipe out everything Russian” in the country.
The North Korea-Russia treaty, which was ratified by Russian MPs last week, stipulates that if one side is invaded, the other “shall provide military and other assistance with all means in its possession without delay.”
The Russian military has conducted strikes on a drone command and control center of the Ukrainian General Staff, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has announced.
The ministry mentioned the strike in its weekly briefing on Friday. Apart from the command center in Kiev, the Russian military also targeted Ukrainian drone manufacturing sites and UAV stockpiles, it said.
The Defense Ministry did not specify when the strike took place, as the center was apparently subjected to multiple attacks over the week. On Tuesday, the Russian military also mentioned the facility in its daily briefing.
Ukrainian Interior Ministry / Facebook
Images shared by former Ukrainian MP Igor Mosiychuk on Wednesday purport to show a large hole in the roof of a General Staff building. It only sustained limited damage as the munition failed to explode, Mosiychuk claimed, citing military sources.
On Saturday, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said a Russian S-400 missile hit an unspecified “facility that housed police officers.” in the city of Kharkov on Friday,
A 43-year-old police colonel was killed, and 30 police officers, a first responder and nine civilians were injured, the ministry said. Interior Minister Igor Klimenko wrote on Facebook that some of the wounded officers are in critical condition.
Russian military blogger Boris Rozhin wrote on Telegram that Kharkov’s police headquarters had been hit. As of early Saturday morning, Ukrainian officials did not reveal which police site was targeted.
The Kharkov regional governor, Oleg Sinegub, wrote on Telegram that the city was struck with an S-300 missile on Friday, and that four civilians were injured. He added that 20 apartment blocks and individual houses were damaged.
Although the S-400 and the S-300 are both surface-to-air missiles, Ukrainian experts previously claimed that Russia was using anti-air missiles to strike ground targets.
Moscow has not commented on its most recent strikes. The Russian Defense Ministry has said in the past that it only targets military and military-linked sites.
In its latest daily briefing, the MOD said that the Russian forces carried out 44 “group strikes” between October 26 and November 1, hitting airfields and railroads that were used to transport troops, as well as energy infrastructure sites that powered “Ukraine’s military-industrial complex.”
Source X/Facebook/RT/AP