Is Putin getting desperate in Ukraine? Outreach to Kim Jong Un puts spotlight on weapons shortages - USA Trending Blog
Is Putin getting desperate in Ukraine? Outreach to Kim Jong Un puts spotlight on weapons shortages - USA Trending Blog
A potential high-stakes meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin is just one of several indications that the Russian president may be getting nervous even desperate as Moscow's war in Ukraine grinds on into its 18th month.
As Ukraine makes some limited progress in its counteroffensive, Russian troops in the hotly contested southern coastal area of Ukraine are cracking down on an apparent resurgence of national patriotism, launching surprise checks and propaganda efforts to stave off a possible revolt, a senior Ukrainian defense ministry official said Monday.
Cuba, one of Russia's most stalwart allies, is publicly accusing Moscow of trying to bolster its war effort by conscripting Cuban men and forcing them to fight against their will in Ukraine, a top Cuban official said Tuesday.
And perhaps most tellingly, the Russian president is trying to double down on his alliance with North Korea a pariah state sanctioned and shunned by most of the world’s nations in an apparent attempt to get more ammunition and weapons for use in Ukraine, U.S. national security officials said.
"I think it says a lot that Russia is having to turn to a country like North Korea to seek to bolster its defense capacity in a war that it expected would be over in a week, that in September of 2023 it is going to North Korea to get munitions to try to continue to grind out on the battlefield in Ukraine," national security adviser Jake Sullivan said at a White House briefing Tuesday.
Russia and North Korea have had a complicated and on-again off-again relationship in recent decades.
But there are indications that the two countries are forging a closer-than-ever alliance, in part because of Putin's need for help in Ukraine and North Korea's need for influential allies in the region, according to U.S. officials and former top national security officials, including John Bolton and Anthony Ruggiero.
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