MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered condolences to North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un over devastating floods that caused untold casualties and damaged thousands of homes, the Kremlin said on Saturday.
North Korea said this week it had seen a record downpour on July 27 which killed an unspecified number of people, flooded dwellings and submerged swathes of farmland in the north near China.
“I ask you to convey words of sympathy and support to all those who lost their loved ones as a result of the storm,” Putin said in a telegram to Kim.
“You can always count on our help and support.”
North Korea and Russia have been allies since the North’s founding after World War II and have drawn even closer since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Media in South Korea, which has offered urgent support to the victims, said this week the toll of dead and missing could be as high as 1,500.
Kim lashed out at the reports, dismissing them as a “smear campaign to bring disgrace upon us and tarnish” the North’s image.
Natural disasters tend to have a greater impact on the isolated and impoverished country due to its weak infrastructure, while deforestation has left it vulnerable to flooding.
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Putin vows support to North Korea after devastating floods
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Putin vows support to North Korea after devastating floods
- North Korea said this week it had seen a record downpour on July 27 which killed an unspecified number of people
- “I ask you to convey words of sympathy and support to all those who lost their loved ones as a result of the storm,” Putin said
Russian mass strike on Ukraine a ‘test’ for Kyiv allies: Ukraine foreign minister
Kyiv, Ukraine: Ukraine said Friday that Russia’s overnight fatal drone and missile attack — including with the hypersonic Oreshnik missile — posed a threat to Europe and was a “test” for Kyiv’s allies.
“Such a strike close to (the) EU and NATO border is a grave threat to the security on the European continent and a test for the transatlantic community. We demand strong responses to Russia’s reckless actions,” Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga wrote on social media.
Moscow said it used the Oreshnik in response to a December drone strike on a residence of Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine has denied it was behind that attack and US President Donald Trump, who is pushing the two sides to agree to a peace deal, said he did not believe the strike happened.
“It is absurd that Russia attempts to justify this strike with the fake ‘Putin residence attack’ that never happened,” Sybiga added in his statement, describing the Russian version of events as Putin’s “hallucinations.”
The attack with the Oreshnik missile appeared to target “infrastructure facilities” in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, close to the border with EU and NATO member Poland.
“Such a strike close to (the) EU and NATO border is a grave threat to the security on the European continent and a test for the transatlantic community. We demand strong responses to Russia’s reckless actions,” Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga wrote on social media.
Moscow said it used the Oreshnik in response to a December drone strike on a residence of Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine has denied it was behind that attack and US President Donald Trump, who is pushing the two sides to agree to a peace deal, said he did not believe the strike happened.
“It is absurd that Russia attempts to justify this strike with the fake ‘Putin residence attack’ that never happened,” Sybiga added in his statement, describing the Russian version of events as Putin’s “hallucinations.”
The attack with the Oreshnik missile appeared to target “infrastructure facilities” in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, close to the border with EU and NATO member Poland.
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