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More on train traffic dramatically increasing between Russia and North Korea, from Agence France-Presse:
High-resolution satellite imagery revealed at least 70 freight cars at North Korea’s border Tumangang Rail Facility, a number described as “unprecedented” even when compared to pre-Covid levels, said Washington-based analysts Beyond Parallel,
Over the past five years, no more than 20 cards had been seen in the railyard.
The uptick in activity “likely indicates North Korea’s supply of arms and munitions to Russia”, the report said, while adding that tarps covering the shipping containers made it impossible to “conclusively identify” their contents.
Yesterday, CBS News cited an unnamed US official as saying North Korea had begun transferring artillery to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine. The US has previously accused North Korea of supplying shells to Russia’s Wagner Group.
Last month’s meeting between Putin and Kim sparked concerns among Kyiv’s western allies over a potential arms deal – North Korea is a mass producer of conventional weaponry and is known to be sitting on large stocks of Soviet-era war material, albeit in unknown condition. While Russia said no agreements were signed during Kim’s visit, Putin said he saw “possibilities” for military cooperation.
With Moscow’s forces firing an estimated 60,000 rounds a day, analysts have suggested that Russia’s production of shells could fall short of its need on the battlefield. That analysis comes even after Russia has ramped up production of shells this year to a forecast 2.5 million.
The White House has said any arms exports from North Korea to Russia “would directly violate multiple UN Security Council resolutions, including resolutions that Russia itself voted to adopt”.
Opening summaryWelcome back to our live coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine. This is Vivian Ho with a rundown on the latest.
Train traffic between North Korea and Russia has dramatically increased after the recent following summit between leaders Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin, indicating a “likely” transfer of arms, according to a new report by Washington-based analysts.
High-resolution satellite imagery reveals at least 70 freight cars at North Korea’s border Tumangang rail facility, the Beyond Parallel group said on Friday, a number described as “unprecedented”.
Russian forces , meanwhile, carried out an overnight missile strike on Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, damaging port infrastructure, Ukrainian authorities said early on Saturday. Four people were wounded.
More on those stories shortly. In other news:
A 10-year-old boy and his grandmother have been killed and more than 20 people wounded after a Russian missile attack on an apartment block in Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials have said. Rescuers found the boy’s body under debris after the strike on the north-eastern city’s densely populated downtown area early on Friday. Two Iskander missiles hit the flats in what President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called another act of “Russian terror”.
The death toll from a Russian missile strike on Hroza village in Kharkiv province the previous day rose to 52 on Friday after another victim died overnight in hospital, regional governor Oleh Synehubov said. A missile slammed into a cafe and grocery store in the village on Thursday as people gathered to mourn a fallen Ukrainian soldier. Separately, interior minister Ihor Klymenko said people from every family in Hroza had been affected by the attack.
A memorial made with candles and flowers brought by local residents in the village of Hroza on Friday after the Russian attack that killed 52 people. Photograph: Alex Babenko/AP Russia’s envoy to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation has said that Moscow will revoke its ratification of the pact, a move that Washington denounced as endangering “the global norm” against nuclear test blasts. Friday’s announcement by Mikhail Ulyanov added new fuel to tensions between Russia and the US over Moscow’s war in Ukraine and arms control disputes between the world’s largest nuclear powers.
Moldova’s pro-European president, Maia Sandu, said Russia’s Wagner paramilitary force was the main force behind an attempt to foment a coup against her. She told the Financial Times in an interview published on Friday that Wagner’s late leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was behind the bid to overthrow her and that Moscow remained engaged in attempts to destabilise the country, located between Ukraine and EU member Romania, notably by funnelling money into Moldova to bribe voters in next month’s local elections.
Moldovan president Maia Sandu says the Wagner group was behind an effort to overthrow her. Photograph: Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters European leaders rallied around Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the face of US jitters over defence funding. The gathering at the European political community (EPC) summit in Granada, Spain, gave leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Olaf Scholz and British prime minister Rishi Sunak a chance to restate their commitment to Ukraine after political turbulence in the US and Europe raised questions about continued support.
Russia is seeking re-election to the UN’s top human rights body next week in what is seen as a crucial test of western efforts to keep Moscow diplomatically isolated over its invasion of Ukraine. Some diplomats are reported to have said Russia has a reasonable chance of getting voted back on to the UN Human Rights Council in Tuesday’s secret ballot, 18 months after it was ousted in a US-led drive.
The US said on Friday it was expelling two Russian diplomats – a retaliatory step after Moscow kicked out two American diplomats last month.
Sweden will send Ukraine a new military support package worth 2.2bn crowns ($199m), consisting mainly of ammunition and spare parts to earlier donated systems, Swedish defence minister Pål Jonson said on Friday.