Russia-Ukraine war LIVE: Russia strikes Ukrainian ammo depots, Ukraine destroys Russian tanks

Russia-Ukraine war LIVE: Russia strikes Ukrainian ammo depots, Ukraine destroys Russian tanks

NATO underscored that Russia’s war in Ukraine was being proed up by North Korea along with China and Iran NATO Chief stoltenberg said that the countries together wanted to see the Western Alliance fail also stoltenberg warned against the potential support that Russia provides to North Korea when it comes to the missiles and nuclear programs meanwhile wedes day’s agenda includes one-on-one discussions between Putin and Kim Jong-un a Gala concert State reception onor guards document signed and a statement to the media all right to discuss things further we’re now being joined by Professor Peter kusik professor of history and director of nuclear Studies Institute at American University sir thank you so much for joining us on world DNA back to be with you uh sir of course North Korea and Russia are both heavily sanctioned by the West in recent times they V strong tires and the West alignment that is something that is deepening here this has raised and the United States has raised alarm over the same as well how do you think the West views this visit and what are the challenges that it perceives well clearly in the context of what’s happening internationally now this visit is very very significant we’ve seen a series of meetings recently there was the so-called peace Summit in uh in in in Switzerland and that was a failure 160 countries were invited only 98 attended and of those 98 20 including India refused to sign the communic at the end of The Summit so that didn’t achieve anything there was a meeting of the G7 that just took place in Italy and that was also a lot of show and symbolism but didn’t really achieve very much you have leaders there almost all of whom are very very weak some of whom are on the way out and face serious challenges then you had NATO meetings in which they talked about increasing the number of deployed nuclear warheads so this is all going on at the time that the situation in Ukraine is getting more and more intense especially with the new levels of Weaponry going in there and then the authorization by the US and others that Ukraine can use some their weapons to strike inside of Russia so the tensions are heightening and North Korea has been providing Russia with very significant military aid Russia already is out producing NATO when it comes to artillery uh and and the Russians are deploying many times as much artillery but the South Koreans estimate that North Korea provided 5 million artillery shells last year and so that’s that Putin wants that military aid he wants the intercontinental ballistic missiles and Korea North Korea wants a lot of Russian military technological knowhow as well as Russian wheat exports so it’s a kind of symbiotic relationship at a time when neither country has got a lot of allies on the world scene but the United States influence is not what it used to be either and so we’ve got the global South resisting the United States and growing ties between Russia China North Korea and Iran right uh Mr kusik you very well covered all the parameters here of the ties between North Korea and Russia and like you mentioned North Korea is providing military aid to Russia according to reports in return in exchange Putin will help Kim with spy satellites like you mentioned how do you assess this transaction relationship or can we say friendship between Moscow and pong gang at this point of time and what perhaps can the West do to stop all of this with most of the missiles and weapons going WIA train Russia has been instrumental in supporting United Nations efforts to sanction North Korea in the past but beginning in March Russia vetoed a very important United Nations Mission uh to look to look into the sanctions about North Korea’s military policies and their missile tests uh and so without Russia’s support the United Nations is going to be greatly weakened in that regard uh so what we’re seeing now is very very dangerous in my opinion we’re seeing greater and greater polarization Russia gets much closer to China to North Kore Korea to Iran and others and and while the United States which used to be able to call the shots internationally is an increasingly weakened position with the possibility frightening as it is to me that Donald Trump might be the next president and and if that happens then America’s alliances not only NATO but with the Europeans and America’s support for Ukraine could certainly be or ended so there’s a lot lot of moving parts right now and a lot of uncertainty and rather than move toward a multi-polar world we’re going toward a bipolar World which is not the same thing uh right in fact absolutely uh I wanted better understanding on this coming back to a point that you made earlier now I want to understand what does this visit mean for Ukraine as you mentioned this comes after a failed Swiss peace Conference of course the G7 Summit which son no concrete results either do you think this visit is a chance for Russia to perhaps show that it’s not isolated anymore well we know that the Western sanctions against Russia have not worked partly because China and India have been buying up Russian oil that the Europeans used to get which is hurting the European economies because they’re paying more for their oil so the growth rate in Europe is lower than the growth rate in Russia right now so see that happening uh in terms of Ukraine Russia already is gaining the advantage on the battlefield since they opened up the new front in Northeast around Kev Ukraine has had to move a lot of its troops from the south and the East and especially in the East Russia’s been able to make more and more slow incremental gains uh there are more weapon systems coming into Ukraine including f-16s and that might help help Ukraine but that’s the fantasy is that somehow Ukraine is going to be able to turn the tide of the war I don’t see it happening Russia is just too strong they’ve got too much armaments and they’ve got too big a population and so the fear that everybody has right now is we’re moving closer and closer to a military confrontation between Russia and NATO or Russia and China and NATO which could mean World War III we need diplomacy as gues and others have been saying we this fighting is not going to solve anything we need to kind of start talking all right well uh Professor kusik thank you so much for joining us on world DNA with your insights on this after making the rare visit the Russian Navy vessels have now left the Kuban capital of haana as per sources the Russian Navy frate and a nuclear powered submarine arrived in Havana Harbor last week just hours after the US announced a fast attack submarine had talked at its Guantanamo Naval Base now the conference of Russian Canadian and US vessels in Kuba a communist run island nation located just 90 Mi south of Florida was a reminder of Cold War tensions but both the United States in Cuba said that the warship spot over posed no threat the visit however was widely seen as a Russian show Force amid continued High tensions over the war in Ukraine as the flotilla of the Russian Navy vessels left the port locals gathered to witness the scene and bid moscow’s task force a farewell the for ship task force Departed the cola Peninsula on 17th of May it sailed across the Atlantic arriving off the coast of Florida before entering Havana Harbor the Russian ships were greeted by Kuba with a salute of cannon fire as they passed fishermen and well wishers as I came for the reception I also came for the farewell because it’s a historical event and I think it will be unrepeatable for our generations and those of us who are living right now the Royal Canadian Navy meanwhile finds itself in the unusual position for both shadowing Russian warships as a threat in the Caribbean as well as sharing and Anchorage with them at the port for several days the frade hmcs was tasked with shadowing the Russian ships which conducted missile exercises during their Atlantic Crossing using the new ziron Hypersonic missiles the Canadian frigate was a part of the three ship group that tracked the Russian vessels along with the US Destroyer USS Tron and the US Coast Guard Cutter us CGS Stone Canada also flew out a CP 140 surveillance plane out of Florida in addition to the US Naval surveillance aircraft the Canadian defense minister Bill Blair now says that he was acting on advice of military when he approved a plan to send a Canadian ship to Cuba he added that the Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian joint Operations Command advised to send a ship the Canadian liberal government meanwhile said that the visit was meant to send a message of deterence to Moscow in the latest development the Kremlin has dismissed the outcome of the peace Summit on Ukraine hosted by Switzerland calling the peace Summit futile Kremlin spokesperson Dimitri pesov told reporters the result of the meeting were Court un courot close to zero in his statement pesov also ridiculed the idea of holding a peace Summit without Russia being present at the negotiating table pesov further added that Russia remains open to dialogue with all countries that intend to conduct it he stressed that Russia will continue to convey its positions to these countries here’s what K spokesperson Dimitri pesov had to say and I’m quoting e [Music] more than 90 countries participated in the two-day talks in Swiss Alpine Resort held in the presence of Ukrainian president vadir zelinski while Moscow was not invited Russian President Putin said last week that Russia was ready to end the war with Ukraine but with certain conditions in place one of the conditions rejected by the UK Ukrainian side was Russia’s demand to withdraw all troops from four Russian controlled regions and the weekend Summit in Switzerland Western powers and their allies denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine however the summit failed to Gana support from major nonaligned States to join their final statement Brazil attended only as an observer and in the end India Indonesia Mexico South Arabia and South Africa all withheld their signatures from official communic foundational principles of the United Nation Ukraine has to leave additional Sovereign Ukrainian territory before Russia will negotiate not strongly defend them there is no International order of the UN Charter thank you very much Slava Ukrainian this is why the precondition is peace based on the foundational principles of the United Nation Ukraine has to leave additional Sovereign Ukrainian territory before Russia will negotiate not strongly defend them there is no International order of the UN Charter thank you very much Slava Ukrainian this is why the precondition is peace based on the foundational principles of the United Nation Ukraine has to leave additional Sovereign Ukraine Ukraine is expecting its first F16 fighter jets from its Western allies in the coming weeks to take on the Russian air superiority but now its challenge is who will M man these incoming fighter jets now K does not have trained 516 pilots and it is upset with the US for that it is not training its fighter pilots fast enough for their job Ukrainian officials claim 30 of its Pilots are ready to start training on the f-16s but the US and Denmark are denying Its Spots at their training facilities and delaying the much needed training the US however claims its Schoolhouse in Arizona can train only 12 Pilots at a time it also maintained that Ukraine’s Pilots are not yet ready to start flying its incoming F-16 jets in large numbers the US and its allies further say that Ukrainian Pilots not up to the task as they are struggling with English language skills and the flying program Denmark Norway the Netherlands and Belgium have pledged to send Ukraine more than 60 us made f6s the UK the aircraft are expected to arrive in trenches Ukraine argues that it is it urgently needs the train Pilots to fly the Jets as soon as they arrive the trouble over pilot training marks the latest hurdle in Ukraine’s drawn out Quest from Mod fighter jets the US holds that f-16s are no good to Ukraine if they are eliminated at the first instance if Ukrainian Pilots cannot do their job Western officials also say they are confident in their schedule for training enough Ukrainian fighter pilots to fly the new f-16s KF however also claims that the training program is too Limited in a cash 22 situation Western officials say they cannot graduate too many Pilots before Ukraine has received enough jets for them to continue training as the pilot will lose their skills if the do not get enough flying hours KF started asking for us made F-16 shortly after the Russia invasion began in 2022 but US President Joe Biden was initially reluctant to give the green light finally last year he approved thirdparty transfer of aircraft from Norway Belgium Denmark and the Netherlands but the training program was bogged down by logistical challenges also it’s not just a pilot training the US says maintenance is also a key part as even the maintainers need to be trained meanwhile Ukrainian president vair zeni on Wednesday urged Ukraine’s allies to speed up deliveries of war planes following a deadly Russian strike on the city of Kaki he said Ukraine needs 120 to 130 f-16s for air parody with Russia all right moving on to Europe where Ukraine is expecting its first F-16 fighter jets from its Western allies in the coming weeks and a bid to take on the Russia air superiority but now its challenge is who will fly these incoming fighter jets ke does not have trained F-16 pilots and it is upset with the US for that it is not training its fighter pilots fast enough for their job Ukrainian officials claim a 30 of its Pilots are ready to start training on the f-16s but the US and Denmark are denying Its Spots at their training facilities and delaying the much needed training the US however claims its Schoolhouse in Arizona can train only 12 Pilots at a time it also maintains that Ukraine’s Pilots are not yet ready to start flying its incoming F-16 jets in large numbers the US and its allies further say that Ukrainian Pilots are not up to the task as they are struggling with English language skills and the flying program as well Denmark Norway the Netherlands and Belgium have pledged to send Ukraine more than 60 us made f 16 the aircraft are expected to arrive in trenches Ukraine argues that it urgently needs the train Pilots to fly the Jets as soon as they arrive the trouble over pilot training marks the latest hurdle in Ukraine’s drawn out quest for modern fighter jets the US holds that f-16s are no good to Ukraine if they are eliminated at the first instance if Ukrainian Pilots cannot do the job Western officials also say they’re confident and they’re schedule for training enough Ukrainian fighter pilots to fly the new f-16s Keith however also claims that the training program is too Limited in a catch22 situation Western officials say that they can not graduate too many Pilots before Ukraine has received enough jets for them to continue training as the pilots will lose their skills if they do not get enough flying hours keev started asking for us made f-16s shortly after the Russian invasion began in 201 22 but US President Joe Biden was initially reluctant to give the green light finally last year he approved third-party transfer of aircraft from Norway Belgium Denmark and the Netherlands but the training program was bogged down by logistical challenges also it’s not just the pilot training the US says maintenance is also a key part as even the mainers need to be trained as well meanwhile Ukrainian president V zinsky on Wednesday Ur Ukraine’s allies to speed up deliveries of weapons and war planes following a deadly Russian strike on the city of har he said Ukraine needs 120 to 130 f-16s for air parody with Russia now hours after the kremin said that the two-day peace Summit yielded no results Russian forces continue to pound Ukraine in the latest Russian missiles targeted Ukraine’s East Central Bava region on Monday at least 12 people including two children were injured and several power lines were damaged in the area the attack damaged several high-rise buildings and according to local authorities that Dow the fire over 53,000 private and 2,400 industrial consumers faced power Cuts due to the damage to power lines with the war well into its 29th month and no signs of it slowing down NATO Chief has emphasized on more weapon supply for Ukraine as The Battered countries forces cramble to fight back a Russian invasion the more credible our long-term support the quicker Moscow will realize it cannot wait us out and the sooner this war can end it may seem like a paradox but the PA the peace is therefore more weapons for Ukraine the Block’s Chief also urged for Country supporting Russia to face consequences the country in question is China sber accused Beijing of worsening the Russia Ukraine war while also seeking better relations with the West publicly president XI has tried to create the impression that he’s taking a backseat in this conflict to avoid sanctions and keep trade flowing but the reality is that China is fueling the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II and at the same time it wants to maintain good relations with the West well Beijing cannot have it both ways at some point and unless China changes course allies need to impose a cost more than 20 NATO members will meet the military Alliance Target of spending at least 2% of their GDP on defense this year this as per NATO Secretary General Jen Stenberg the number of NATO allies now meeting the spending Target compared to less than 10 members 5 years ago across Europe and Canada the NATO allies are increasing defense spending by 18% 23 countries are going to spend 2% of their GDP or more on defense this year that’s more than twice the number four years ago Stenberg was in Washington for preparations for next month’s NATO Summit in the US capital NATO’s defense pending will be a major Topic at the Washington Summit speaking of the last two years Stenberg said that more than 2/3 of Europe’s defense Acquisitions about4 billion were from us firms NATO’s defense spending has become highly contentious in recent years former US president Donald Trump has accused Europeans of spending too little on their own security and relying on the United States and uh today uh we are able to publish new figures for defense spending they show that U across Europe and Canada uh NATO allies are this year increasing defense spending by 18% uh that’s the biggest increase in decades um and um 23 allies uh are going to spend 2% of GDP or more uh on defense this year meanwhile Stenberg has also called for the NATO members to adapt its nuclear Arsenal on the face of security threats from Russia and China the NATO Chief said that the members were Consulting about deploying more nuclear weapons taking them out of storage and placing them on standby reacting to stock B’s claim White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby has said that it would be responsible to not have those talks NATO is a defensive Alliance and uh NATO countries uh uh are some of the most sophisticated in the world when it comes to military capabilities um and it would be irresponsible and imprudent if we weren’t constantly talking to our NATO allies about how to make sure we can meet our commitments to one another across a range of military capabilities Russian President Vladimir Putin is on a visit to North Korea his first in 24 years Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to bolster ties between the two countries North Korea in fact says the meeting between the two leaders demonstrated invincibility and durability of friendship and unity Pyongyang it’s called the country’s partnership and engine for accelerating the building of a new multi-polar world on the other hand the Pentagon its voiced concerns about the growing ties between Moscow and pongyang are we seeing deepening anti-west alignment here and how will this bolstered partnership between the two nuclear armed States impact the existing world order my name is himor s and to discuss this we have with us Dr Robert Edwin Kelly American political analyst on interc carean Affairs and professor in the department of political science Pan national university sir thank you so much for joining us on weon hi thank you for having me so I want to First understand how does South Korea view this visit and deepening ties between north and Russia yeah I think there’s anxiety here in South Korea that the Russians might transfer something of genuine strategic value to North Korea right the uh North Koreans it see it seems you know we don’t know of course but it seems that the Russians are are the North UK are transferring a great deal of ammunition to the Russians for their war in Ukraine it seems that the Russians are pretty desperate to get that right the the war is kind of turned into something of a stalemate and so the the concern is that uh the North Koreans might be able to bargain against Russian desperation to get some really significant help on satellites on missiles on uh on larger strategic assets and um no we we just don’t know right of course the North Koreans aren’t going to tell us anything so there’s a lot of you know uh in coate fear here that uh you know something significant might be uh in the works might be shifted to to North Korea right sir in fact I was just going to come to this Pentagon of course sees this as a cause for concern do you see this as a sign of growing anti-west alignment um for the no not not so much yet because I think a real sort of axis of sort of like anti-western dictatorships or something like that that that would really I think require China’s full participation right I think right now what you’re seeing between North Korea and Russia is kind of a a transactional an alignment of convenience if you will that is to say that both Russia and North Korea are significantly isolated from the world economy they’re both now heavily sanctioned they don’t really have a lot of other diplomatic options so for example Russia would very much prefer to have a relationship with South Korea to North Korea South Korea is 32 times wealthier I believe now than North Korea South Korea can ort and import a great deal from Russia North Korea can’t really do any of that right and the Russians going to the North Koreans cuz that’s really you know one of the few States left that they can really approach and so I think what you’re right now have between the two of them is basically they’re both sort of painted into a corner and so they’re kind of working together because it’s helpful I’m not sure that this idea that you actually have the sort of like access of autocracy coming together to sort of reorganize the world order that would require the the financial weight of China right to really sort of pay pay for the the cost of that because right now I think Russia and North Korea just are too they’re too weak to do that on their own all right now just coming back to a point that you made earlier as well NATO says that Russia’s war on Ukraine it was being propped up by North Korea along with China and Iran now North Korea it’s been accused of helping Russia with weapons in its fight against Ukraine and in exchange of that Putin says that it will help Kim Jong-un with spy satellite system so how do you assess this transactional relationship between the two yeah I think actually for the two of them it’s a pretty great relationship I mean you know for the rest of the world you know for us on the outside I think it’s pretty pretty bad but I think the two partners are getting actually a lot valuable out of it right I think that’s why this is this thing this relationship has bloomed so so rapidly because there are really good um uh there are really good upsides for both you know it’s pretty clear in so in Ukraine for example I think this is where it’s most obvious in the Ukraine war it’s pretty clear that the Russian defense industrial base cannot keep up with Russia’s Battlefield losses we know the Russians are starting to use equipment from the 1970s even the 1960 s in the war right they just don’t have enough ammunition stocks to meet their needs right and we also know that North Korea has a Soviet style military industrial complex that goes back decades they’ve got huge stock piles and they’re selling those directly to the Russians so if you’re the Russians this is really great because you’re able to get shells really really fast for the war right on the other hand North Korea has real problems with missile launches and technology for reasons that are you know fairly obvious North Korea’s you know economically backward it’s scientific industrial complex is fairly narrow outside of the the nuclear space and so if you can get stuff from the Russians for free right if you can s bargain these shells to get uh Russian missile technology telemetric data right it’s a pretty useful exchange right and I think the real question the big question is how desperate is Putin if he’s really really desperate for all these shells and he’ll be willing to give away more and more information to the North Koreans and that’s what we really don’t know on the outside just how much are the North Koreans going to be able to pull out of Putin in U because Putin so desperate for these shells to win the war to prosecute his his Ukraine war all right well Dr Kelly thank you so much for joining us on Von with your insights on this it was a pleasure talking to you thank you for having me now Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to bolster ties between the two countries Putin is on a visit to North Korea first time in 24 years right him this is the second meeting between the two leaders since September and experts say it is largely driven by Russia’s need for weapons as its war with Ukraine continues North Korea says that the meeting between the two leaders demonstrates invincibility and durability of friendship and unity pong gang called the country’s partnership and engine for accelerating the building of a new multi-polar world the Pentagon vo concerns about the growing ties between Moscow and Pyongyang the deepening cooperation between Russia and the dprk uh is something uh that should be of concern uh especially to anyone that’s interested in maintaining peace and stability on the the Korean Peninsula um but also supporting the people of Ukraine as they continue to fight against Russian aggression now on the other hand NATO underscored that Russia’s war in Ukraine was being proed up by North Korea along with China and Iran NATO Chief stoltenberg said that the countries together wanted to see the Western Alliance fail also stoltenberg warned against the potential support that Russia provides to North Korea when it comes to the missiles and nuclear programs meanwhile Wednesday’s agenda includes one-on-one discussions between Putin and Kim Jong-un a Gala concert State reception honor guards document signing and a statement to the media all right to discuss things further we’re now being joined by Professor Peter kosnik professor of history and director of nuclear Studies Institute at American University sir thank you so much for joining us on world DNA glad to be with you uh sir of course North Korea and Russia are both heavily sanctioned by the West in recent times theyve Val strong tires and the West alignment that is something that is deepening here this has raised and the United States has raised alarm over the same as well how do you think the West views this visit and what are the challenges that it perceives well clearly in the context of what’s happening internationally now this visit is very very significant we’ve seen a series of meetings recently there was the so-called peace Summit in uh in in Switzerland and that was a failure 160 countries were invited only 98 attended and of those 98 20 including India refused to sign the commun at the end of The Summit so that didn’t achieve anything there was a meeting of the G7 that just took place in Italy and that was also a lot of show and symbolism but didn’t really achieve very much you have leaders there almost all of whom are very very weak some of whom are on the way out and face serious challenges then you had NATO meetings in which they talked about increasing the number of deployed nuclear warheads so this is all going on at the time that the situation in Ukraine is getting more and more intense especially with the new levels of Weaponry going in there and then the authorization by the US and others that Ukraine can use some of their weapons to strike inside of Russia so the tensions are heightening and North Korea has been providing Russia with very significant military aid Russia already is out producing NATO when it comes to artillery uh and and the Russians are deploying many times as much artillery but the South Koreans estimate that North Korea provided 5 million artillery shells last year and so that’s that Putin wants that military aid he wants the intercontinental ballistic missiles and Korea North Korea wants a lot of Russian military technological know out as well as Russian wheat exports so it’s a kind of symbiotic relationship at a time when neither country has got a lot of allies on the world scene but the United States influence is not what it used to be either and so we’ve got the global South resisting the United States and growing ties between Russia China North Korea and Iran right uh Mr kusik you very well covered all the the parameters here of the ties between North Korea and Russia and like you mentioned North Korea is providing military aid to Russia according to reports in return in exchange Putin will help Kim with spy satellites like you mentioned how do you assess this transactional relationship or can we say friendship between Moscow and pong gang at this point of time and what perhaps can the West do to stop all of this with most of the missiles and weapons going via train Russia has been instrumental in supporting United Nations efforts to sanction North Korea in the past but beginning in March Russia vetoed a very important United nations’s Mission uh to look to look into the sanctions about North Korea’s military policies and their missile tests uh and so without Russia’s support the United Nations is going to be greatly weakened in that regard uh so what we’re seeing now is very very dangerous in my opinion we’re seeing greater and greater polarization Russia gets much closer to China to North Korea to Iran and others and and while the United States which used to be able to call the shots internationally is an increasingly weakened position with the possibility frightening as it is to me that Donald Trump might be the next president and and if that happens then America’s alliances not only NATO but with the Europeans and America’s support for Ukraine could certainly be or ended so there a lot lot of moving parts right now and a lot of uncy and rather than move toward a multi-polar world we’re going toward a bipolar World which is not the same thing uh right sir in fact absolutely uh I wanted better understanding on this coming back to a point that you made earlier now I want to understand what does this visit mean for Ukraine as you mentioned this comes after a failed Swiss peace Conference of course the G7 Summit which saw no concrete results either do you think this visit is a chance for Russia to perhaps show that it’s not isolated anymore well we know that the Western sanctions against Russia have not worked partly because China and India have been buying up Russian oil that the Europeans used to get which is hurting the European economies because they’re paying more for their oil so the growth rate in Europe is lower than the growth rate in Russia right now so we see that happening uh in terms of Ukraine Russia already is gaining the advantage on the battlefield since they opened up the new front in Northeast around K Ukraine has had a move a lot of its troops from the south and the East and especially in the East Russia’s been able to make more and more slow incremental gains uh there are more weapon systems coming into Ukraine including f-16s and that might help Ukraine but that’s the fantasy is that somehow Ukraine is going to be able to turn the tide of the war I don’t see it happening Russia is just too strong they’ve got too much armaments and they’ve got too big population and so the fear that everybody has right now is we’re moving closer and closer to a military confrontation between Russia and NATO or Russia and China and NATO which could mean World War II we need diplomacy as gutterz and others have been saying we this fighting is not going to solve anything right we need to kind of start talking all right well uh Professor Kik thank you so much for joining us on world DNA with your insights on this after making the rare visit the Russian Navy vessels have now left the Kuban capital of haana as per sources the Russian Navy frade and a nuclear powered submarine arrived in haana Harbor last week just hours after the US announced a fast attack submarine had talked at its Guantanamo Naval Base now the conference of Russian Canadian and US vessels in Kuba a communist run island nation located just 90 Mi south of Florida was reminder of Cold War tensions but both the United States and Cuba said that the warship spot over posed no threat the visit however was widely seen as a Russian show Force amid continued High tensions over the war in Ukraine as the flotilla of the Russian Navy vessels left the port locals gathered to witness the scene and bid moscow’s task force a farewell the for ship task force Departed the cola Peninsula on 17th of May it sailed across the Atlantic arriving off the coast of Florida before entering haana Harbor the Russian ships were greeted by Kuba with a salute of Canon fire as they passed fishermen and wellwishers as I came for the reception I also came for the farewell because it’s a historical event and I think it will be unrepeatable for our generations and those of us who are living right now the Royal Canadian Navy meanwhile finds itself in the unusual position for both shadowing Russian warships as a threat in the Caribbean as well as sharing an Anchorage with them at the port for several days the Brigade hmcs was tasked with shadowing the Russian ships which conducted missile exercises during their Atlant Crossing using the new ziron Hypersonic missiles the Canadian frigate was a part of the three ship group that track the Russian vessels along with the US Destroyer USS Tru and the US Co card cutter us CGS Stone Canada also flew out a CP 140 surveillance plane out of Florida in addition to the US Naval surveillance aircraft the Canadian defense minister Bill Blair now says that he was acting on advice of military when he approved a plan to send a Canadian ship to Cuba he added that the Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian joint Operations Command advised to send a ship the Canadian liberal government meanwhile said that the visit was meant to send a message of deterence to Moscow in the latest development the Kremlin has dismissed the outcome of the peace Summit on Ukraine hosted by Switzerland calling the peace Summit futile Kremlin spokesperson Dimitri pesov told reporters the result of the meeting were court on courot close to zero in his statement pesov also ridiculed the idea of holding a peace Summit without Russia being present at the ne negotiating table pesov further added that Russia remains open to dialogue with all countries that intend to conduct it he stressed that Russia will continue to convey its positions to these countries here’s what kemin spokesperson Dimitri pesov had to say and I’m quoting [Music] for more than 90 countries participated in the two-day talks in Swiss Alpine Resort held in the presence of Ukrainian president vadir zelinski while Moscow was not invited Russian President Putin said last week that Russia was ready to end the war with Ukraine but with certain conditions in place one of the conditions rejected by the Ukrainian side was Russia’s demand to withdraw all troops from four Russian controlled regions and the weekend Summit in Switzerland Western powers and their allies denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine however the summit fa to Ghana support from major nonaligned States to join their final statement Brazil attended only as an observer and in the end India Indonesia Mexico Saudi Arabia and South Africa all withheld their signatures from official Community foundational principles of the United Nation Ukraine has to leave additional Sovereign Ukrainian territory before Russia will negotiate not strongly defend them there is no intern order of the UN Charter thank you very much slav Ukrainian this is why the precondition is peace based on the foundational principles of the United Nation Ukraine has to leave additional Sovereign Ukrainian territory before Russia will negotiate not strongly defend them there is no International order of the UN Charter thank you very much slav Ukrainian this is why the precondition is peace based on the foundational principles of the United Nation Ukraine has to leave additional Sovereign Ukraine Ukraine is expecting its first F-16 fire jets from its Western allies in the coming weeks to take on the Russian air superiority but now its challenge is who will man man these incoming fighter jets now cave does not have trained 516 pilots and it is upset with the US for that it is not training its fighter pilots fast enough for their job Ukrainian officials claim 30 of its Pilots are ready to start training on the f-16s but the US and Denmark are denying Its Spots at their training facilities and delaying the much needed training the US however claims its Schoolhouse in Arizona can train only 12 12 Pilots at a time it also maintained that Ukraine’s Pilots are not yet ready to start flying its incoming F-16 jets in large numbers the US and its allies further say that Ukrainian Pilots not up to the task as they are struggling with English language skills and the flying program Denmark Norway the Netherlands and Belgium have pledged to send Ukraine more than 60 us made f-16s the UK aircraft are expected to arrive in trenches Ukraine argues that it is it urgently needs the train Pilots to fly the Jets as soon as they arrive the trouble over pilot training marks the latest hurdle in Ukraine’s drawn out quest for Mor fighter jets the US holds that f-16s are no good to Ukraine if they are eliminated at the first instance if Ukrainian Pilots cannot do their job Western officials also say they are confident in their schedule for training enough Ukrainian fighter pilots to fly the new f-16s K however also claims that the training program is too Limited in a cash 22 situation Western officials say they cannot graduate too many Pilots before Ukraine has received enough jets for them to continue training as the pilots will lose their skills if they do not get enough flying hours KF started asking for us made F-16 shortly after the Russia invasion began in 2022 but US President Joe Biden was initially reluctant to give the green light finally last year year he approved thirdparty transfer of aircraft from Norway Belgium Denmark and the Netherlands but the training program was bogged down by logistical challenges also it’s not just a pilot training the US says maintenance is also a key part as even the maintainers need to be trained meanwhile Ukrainian president vair zeny on Wednesday urged Ukraine’s allies to speed up deliveries of war planes following a deadly Russian strike on the city of kakei he said said Ukraine needs 120 to 130 f-16s for air parody with Russia all right moving on to Europe where Ukraine is expecting its first F-16 fighter jets from its Western allies in the coming weeks and a bid to take on the Russia air superiority but now its challenge is who will fly these incoming fighter jets keev does not have trained F6 pilots and it is upset with the US for that it is not training its fighter pilot fast enough for their job Ukrainian officials claim 30 of its Pilots are ready to start training on the f-16s but the US and Denmark are denying Its Spots at their training facilities and delaying the much-needed training the US however claims its Schoolhouse in Arizona can train only 12 Pilots at a time it also maintains that Ukraine’s Pilots are not yet ready to start flying its incoming F-16 jets in large numbers the US and its allies further say that Ukrainian Pilots are not up to the task as they are struggling with English language skills and the flying program as well Denmark Norway the Netherlands and Belgium have pledged to send Ukraine more than 60 us made f-16s the aircraft are expected to arrive in trenches Ukraine argues that it urgently needs the train Pilots to fly the Jets as soon as they arrive the trouble over pilot training marks the latest hurdle Ukraine’s drawn out quest for modern fighter jets the US holds that f-16s are no good to Ukraine if they are eliminated at the first instance if Ukrainian Pilots cannot do the job Western officials also say they’re confident in their schedule for training enough Ukrainian fighter pilots to fly the new f-16s Keith however also claims that the training program is too Limited in a catch22 situation Western officials say that they can not graduate too many Pilots before Ukraine has received enough jets for them to continue training as the pilots will lose their skills if they do not get enough flying hours keev started asking for us made f-16s shortly after the Russian invasion began in 2022 but US President Joe Biden was initially reluctant to give the green light finally last year he approved third-party transfer of aircraft from Norway Belgium Denmark and the Netherlands but the training program was bogged down by logistical challenges also it’s not just a pilot training the US says maintenance is also a key part as even the mainten need to be trained as well meanwhile Ukrainian president V zinsky on wedes they urge Ukraine’s allies to speed up deliveries of weapons and war planes following a deadly Russian strike on the city of harke he said Ukraine needs 120 to 13 f16s for air parody with Russia now hours after the Kremlin said that the two-day peace Summit yielded no results Russian forces continue to pound Ukraine in the latest Russian missiles targeted Ukraine’s East Central Bava region on Monday at least 12 people including two children were injured and several power lines were damaged in the area the attack damaged several high-rise buildings and according to local authorities that Dows the fire over 53,000 private and 2,400 industrial consumers faced power Cuts due to the damage to power lines with the war well to its 29th month and no signs of it slowing down NATO Chief has emphasized on more weapon supply for Ukraine as The Battered countries forces scramble to fight back a Russian invasion the more credible our long-term support the quicker Moscow will realize it cannot wait us out and the sooner this war can end it may seem like a paradox but the path to peace is therefore more weapons for Ukraine the blocks Chief also urged for Country supporting Russia to face consequences the country in question is China Stenberg accused Beijing of worsening the Russia Ukraine war while also seeking better relations with the West publicly president XI has tried to create the impression that he’s taking a back seat in this conflict to avoid sanctions and keep trade flowing but the reality is that China is fueling the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II and at the same time it wants to maintain good relations with the West well Beijing cannot have it both ways at some point and unless China changes course allies need to impose a cost more than 20 NATO members will meet the military Alliance Target of spending at least 2% of their GDP on defense this year this as per NATO Secretary General Jen Stenberg the number of NATO allies is now meeting the spending Target compares to less than 10 members 5 years ago across Europe and Canada the NATO allies are increasing defense spending by 18% 23 countries are going to spend 2% of their GDP or more on defense this year that’s more than twice the number four years ago Stenberg was in Washington for preparations for next month’s NATO Summit in the US capital NATO’s defense pending will be a major Topic at the Washington Summit speaking of the last two years totenberg said that more than 2/3 of Europe’s defense Acquisitions about $140 billion were from us firms NATO’s defense spending has become highly contentious in recent years former US president Donald Trump has accused Europeans of spending too little on their own security and relying on the United States uh and uh today uh we are able to publish new figures for defense spending they show that uh across Europe and Canada NATO allies are this year increasing defense spending by 18% uh that’s the biggest increase in decades um and um 23 allies uh are going to spend 2% of GDP or more uh on the this year meanwhile Stenberg has also called for the NATO members to adapt its nuclear Arsenal on the face of security threats from Russia and China the NATO Chief said that the members were Consulting about deploying more nuclear weapons taking them out of storage and placing them on standby reacting to stock B’s claim White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby has said that it would be responsible to not have those talks NATO is a defensive Alliance and uh NATO countries uh uh are some of the most sophisticated in the world when it comes to military capabilities um and it would be irresponsible and imprudent if we weren’t constantly talking to our NATO allies about how to make sure we can meet our commitments to one another across a range of military capabilities Russian President Vladimir Putin is on a visit to North Korea his first in 24 years Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to bolster ties between the two countries North Korea in fact says the meeting between the two leaders demonstrated invincibility and durability of friendship and unity pongyang it’s called the country’s partnership and engine for accelerating the building of a new multi-polar world on the other hand the Pentagon its voiced concerns about the growing ties between Moscow and Pyongyang are we we seeing deepening anti-west alignment here and how will this bolstered partnership between the two nuclear armed States impact the existing world order my name is himor sya and to discuss this we have with us Dr Robert Edwin Kelly American political analyst on interc carean Affairs and professor in the department of political science Pan national university sir thank you so much for joining us on weon hi thank you very having me so I want to First understand how does South Korea view this visit and deepening ties between North and Russia yeah I think there’s anxiety here in South Korea that the Russians might transfer something of genuine strategic value to North Korea right the uh North Koreans it see it seems you know we don’t know of course but it seems that the Russians are other North Koreans are transferring a great deal of ammunition to the Russians for their war in Ukraine it seems that the Russians are pretty desperate to get that right the the war is kind of turned into something of a stalemate and so the the concern is that uh the North Koreans might be able to bargain against Russian desperation to get some really significant help on satellites on missiles on uh on larger strategic assets and um no we we just don’t know right of course the North Koreans aren’t going to tell us anything so there’s a lot of you know inqu fear here that uh you know something significant might be uh in the works might be shifted to to North Korea right sir in fact I was just going to come to this Pentagon of course sees this as a cause for concern do you see this as a sign of growing anti-west alignment um for the no not not so much yet because I think a real sort of axis of sort of like anti-western dictatorships or something like that that that would really I think require China’s full participation right I think right now what you’re seeing between North Korea and Russia is kind of a a transactional an alignment of convenience if you will that is to say that both Russia and North Korea are significantly isolated from the world economy they’re both now heavily sanctioned they don’t really have a lot of other diplomatic options so for example Russia would very much prefer to have a relationship with South Korea to North Korea South Korea is 32 times wealthier I believe now than North Korea South Korea can export and import a great deal from Russia North Korea can’t really do any of that right and the Russians going to the North Koreans because that’s really you know one of the few States left that they can really approach and so I think what you’re right now have between the two of them is basically they’re both sort of painted into a corner and so they’re kind of working together because it’s helpful I’m not sure that this idea that you actually have the sort of like access of autocracy coming together to sort of reorganize the world order that would require the the financial weight of China right to really sort of pay for the the cost of that because right now I think Russia and North Korea just are too they’re too weak to do that on their own all right now just coming back to a point that you made earlier as well NATO says that Russia’s war in Ukraine it was being propped up by North Korea along with China and and Iran now North Korea it’s been accused of helping Russia with weapons in its fight against Ukraine and in exchange of that Putin says that it will help Kim Jong-un with spy satellite system so how do you assess this transactional relationship between the two yeah I think actually for the two of them it’s a pretty great relationship I mean you know for the rest of the world you know for us on the outside I think it’s pretty pretty bad but I think the two partners are getting actually a lot valuable out of it right and I think that’s why this is this thing this relationship has bloomed so so rapidly because there are really good um uh they’re really good upsides for both you know it’s pretty clear in so in Ukraine for example I think this is where it’s most obvious in the Ukraine war it’s pretty clear that the Russian defense industrial base cannot keep up with Russia’s Battlefield losses we know the Russians are starting to use equipment from the 1970s even the 1960s in the war right they just don’t have enough ammunition stocks to meet their needs right and we also know that North Korea has a Soviet style military industrial complex that goes back decades they’ve got huge stock piles and they’re selling those directly to the Russians so if the Russians this is really great because you’re able to get shells really really fast for the war right on the other hand North Korea has real problems with missile launches and technology for reasons that are you know fairly obvious North Korea’s you know economically backward it’s scientific industrial complex is fairly narrow outside of the the nuclear space and so if you can get stuff from the Russians for free right if you can s bargain these shells to get uh Russian missile technology telemetric data right it’s a pretty useful exchange right and I think the real question the big question is how desperate is Putin if he’s really really desperate for all these shells and he’ll be willing to give away more and more information to the North Koreans and that’s what we really don’t know on the outside just how much are the North Koreans going to be able to pull out of Putin in U because Putin’s so desperate for these shells to win the war to prosecute his his Ukraine war all right well Dr Kelly thank you so much for joining us on Von with your insights on this it was a pleasure talking to you thank you for having me now Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to bolster ties between the two countries Putin is on a visit to North Korea first time in 24 years right him this is the second meeting between the two leaders since September and experts say it is largely driven by Russia’s need for weapons as its war with Ukraine continues North Korea says that the meeting between the two leaders demonstrates invincibility and durability of friendship and unity pong gang called the country’s partnership and engine for accelerating the building of a new multi-polar world the Pentagon voice concerns about the growing ties between Moscow and pong gang the deepening cooperation between Russia and the dprk uh is something uh that should be of concern uh especially to anyone that’s interested in maintaining peace and stability on the the Korean Peninsula um but also supporting the people of Ukraine as they continue to fight against Russian aggression now on the other hand NATO underscored that Russia’s war in Ukraine was being propped up by North Korea along with China and Iran NATO Chief stoltenberg said that the countries together wanted to see the Western Alliance fail also stoltenberg warned against the potential support that Russia provides to North Korea when it comes to the missiles and nuclear programs meanwhile Wednesday’s agenda includes one-on-one discussions between Putin and Kim Jong-un a Gala concerts reception onor guards document signing and a statement to the media all right to discuss things further we’re now being joined by Professor Peter kosnik professor of history and director of nuclear Studies Institute at American University sir thank you so much for joining us on world DNA glad to be with you uh sir of course North Korea and Russia are both heavily sanctioned by the West in recent times theyve Val strong ties and the West alignment that is something that is deepening here this has raised and the United States has raised alarm over the same as well how do you think the West views this visit and what are the challenges that it perceives well clearly in the context of what’s happening internationally now this visit is very very significant we’ve seen a series of meetings recently there was the so-called peace Summit in uh in in Switzerland and that was a failure 160 countries were invited only 98 attended and of those 98 20 including India refused to sign the communic at the end of The Summit so that didn’t achieve anything there was a meeting of the G7 that just took place in Italy and that was also a lot of show and symbolis M but didn’t really achieve very much you have leaders there almost all of whom were very very weak some of whom are on the way out and face serious challenges then you had NATO meetings in which they talked about increasing the number of deployed nuclear warheads so this is all going on at the time that the situation in Ukraine is getting more and more intense especially with the new levels of Weaponry going in there and then the authorization by the US and others that Ukraine can use some of their weapons to strike inside of Russia so the tensions are heightening and North Korea has been providing Russia with very significant military aid Russia already is out producing NATO when it comes to artillery uh and and the Russians are deploying many times as much artillery but the South Koreans estimate that North Korea provided five million artillery shells last year and so that’s that Putin wants that military aid he wants the intercontinental ballistic missiles and Korea North Korea wants a lot of Russian military technological knowhow as well as Russian wheat exports so it’s a kind of symbiotic relationship at a time when neither country has got a lot of allies on the world scene but the United States influence is not what it used to be either and so we’ve got the global South resisting the United States and growing ties between Russia China North Korea and Iran right uh Mr Kik you very well covered all the parameters here of the ties between North Korea and Russia and like you mentioned North Korea is providing military aid to Russia according to reports in return in exchange Putin will help Kim with spy satellites like you mentioned how do you assess this transactional relationship or can we say friendship between Moscow and pong gang at this point of time and what perhaps can the West do to stop all of this with most of the missiles and weapons going via train Russia has been instrumental in supporting United Nations efforts to sanction North Korea in the past but beginning in March Russia Ved a very important United Nations Mission uh to look to look into the sanctions about North Korea’s military policies and their missile tests uh and so without Russia’s support the United Nations is going to be greatly weakened in that regard uh so what we’re seeing now is very very dangerous in my opinion we’re seeing greater and greater polarization Russia gets much closer to China to North Korea to Iran and others and and while the United States which used to be able to call the shots internationally is an increasingly weakened position with the possibility frightening as it is to me that Donald Trump might be the next president and and if that happens then America’s alliances not only NATO but with the Europeans and America’s support for Ukraine could certainly Beed or ended so has a lot a lot of moving parts right now and a lot of uncertainty and rather than move toward a multi-polar world we’re going toward a bipolar World which is not the same thing uh right sir in fact absolutely uh I wanted better understanding on this coming back to a point that you made earlier now I want to understand what does this visit mean for Ukraine as you mentioned this comes after a failed Swiss peace Conference of course the G7 Summit which saw no concrete results either do you think this visit is a chance for Russia to perhaps show that it’s not isolated anymore well we know that the Western sanctions against Russia have not worked partly because China and India have been buying up Russian oil that the Europeans used to get which is hurting the European economies because they’re paying more for their oil so the growth rate in Europe is lower than the growth rate in Russia right now so we see that happening uh in terms of Ukraine Russia already is gaining the advantage on the battlefield since they open up the new front in Northeast around Kar Ukraine has had to move a lot of its troops from the south and the East and especially in the East Russia’s been able to make more and more slow incremental gains uh there are more weapon systems coming into Ukraine including f-16s and that might help Ukraine but that’s the fantasy is that somehow Ukraine is going to be able to turn the tide of the war I don’t see it happening Russia is just too strong they’ve got too much armaments and they’ve got too big a population and so the fear that everybody has right now is we’re moving closer and closer to a military confrontation between Russia and NATO or Russia and China and NATO which could mean World War II we need to diplomacy as gutterz and others have been saying we this fighting is not going to solve anything right we need to sit down and start talking all right well uh Professor Kik thank you so much for joining us on world DNA with your insights on this after making the rare visit the Russian Navy vessels have now left the Kuban capital of haana as per sources the Russian Navy frade and a nuclear powered submarine arrived in in haana Harbor last week just hours after the US announced a fast attack submarine had talked at its Guantanamo Naval Base now the Confluence of Russian Canadian and US vessels in Kuba a communist run island nation located just 90 Mi south of Florida was a reminder of Cold War tensions but both the United States and Cuba said that the warship spot over posed no threat the visit however was widely seen as a Russian show Force amid continued High tensions over the war in Ukraine r as the flotilla of the Russian Navy vessels left the port locals gathered to witness the scene and bid moscow’s task force a farewell the for ship task force Departed the cola Peninsula on 17th of May it sailed across the Atlantic arriving off the coast of Florida before entering Havana Harbor the Russian ships were greeted by Kuba with a salute of cannon fire as they passed fishermen and wellwishers as I came for the reception I also came for the farewell because it’s a historical event and I think it will be unrepeatable for our generations and those of us who are living right now the Royal Canadian Navy meanwhile finds itself in the unusual position for both shadowing Russian warships as a threat in the Caribbean as well as sharing an Anchorage with them at the port for several days the frade hmcs was tasked with shadowing the Russian ships which conducted missile exercises during their Atlantic Crossing using the new ziron Hypersonic missiles the Canadian frigate was a part of the three ship group that tracked the Russian vessels along with the US Destroyer USS Tron and the US Coast Guard Cutter us CGS Stone Canada also flew out a CP 140 surveillance plane out of Florida in addition to the US Naval surveillance aircraft the Canadian defense minister Bill Blair now says that he was acting on advice of military when he approved a plan to send a Canadians ship to Cuba he added that the Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian joint Operations Command advised to send a ship the Canadian liberal government meanwhile said that the visit was meant to send a message of deterence to Moscow in a latest development the Kremlin has dismissed the outcome of the peace Summit on Ukraine hosted by Switzerland calling the peace Summit futile Gremlin spokesperson Dimitri pesov told reporters the result of the meeting were couron Court close to zero in his statement pesov also ridiculed the idea of holding a peace Summit without Russia being present at the negotiating table pesov further added that Russia remains open to dialogue with all countries that intend to conduct it he stressed that Russia will continue to convey its positions to these countries here’s what kremin spoke person Demitri pesov had to say and I’m [Music] quoting for more than 90 countries participated in the two-day talks in Swiss Alpine Resort held in the presence of Ukrainian president vadir zilinski while Moscow was not invited Russian President Putin said last week that Russia was ready to end the war with Ukraine but with certain conditions in place one of the conditions rejected by the Ukrainian side was Russia’s demand to withdraw all troops from four Russian controlled regions at the weekend Summit in Switzerland Western powers and their allies denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine however the summit failed to Gana support from major non-aligned States to join their final statement Brazil attended only as an observer and in the end India Indonesia Mexico Saudi Arabia and South Africa all withheld their signatures from official communic foundational principles of the United Ukraine has to leave additional Sovereign Ukrainian territory before Russia will negotiate not strongly defend them there is no International order of the UN Charter thank you very much Slava Ukrainian this is why the precondition is peace based on the foundational principles of the United Nation Ukraine has to leave additional Sovereign Ukrainian territory before Russia will negotiate not to strongly defend them there is no International order of the UN Charter thank you very much slav Ukrainian this is why the precondition is peace based on the foundational principles of the United Nation Ukraine has to leave additional Sovereign Ukraine Ukraine is expecting its first F-16 figh Jets from its Western allies in the coming weeks to take on the Russian air superiority but now its challenge is who will M man these incoming fighter jets now cave does not have trained 56 pilots and it is upset with the US for that it is not training its fighter pilots fast enough for their job Ukrainian officials claim 30 of its Pilots are ready to start training on the f-16s but the US and Denmark are denying Its Spots at their training facilities and delaying the much needed training the US however claims its Schoolhouse in Arizona can train only 12 Pilots at a time it also maintained that Ukraine’s Pilots are not yet ready to start flying its incoming F-16 jets in large numbers the US and its allies further say that Ukrainian Pilots not up to the task as they are struggling with English language skills and the flying program Denmark Norway the Netherlands and Belgium have pledged to send Ukraine more than 60 us made f-16s the UK the aircraft are expected to arrive in trenches Ukraine argues that it is it originally needs the train Pilots to fly the Jets as soon as they arrive the trouble over pilot training marks the latest hurdle in Ukraine’s drawn out quest for Mor fighter jets the US holds that 16s are no good to Ukraine if they are eliminated at the first instance if Ukrainian Pilots cannot do their job Western officials also say they are confident in their schedule for training enough Ukrainian fighter pilots to fly the new f-16s K however also claims that the training program is too Limited in a cash 22 situation Western officials say they cannot graduate too many Pilots before Ukraine has received enough jets for them to continue new training as the pilots will lose their skills if they do not get enough flying hours KF started asking for us made F-16 shortly after the Russia invasion began in 2022 but US President Joe Biden was initially reluctant to give the green light finally last year he approved thirdparty transfer of aircraft from Norway Belgium Denmark and the Netherlands but the training program was bogged down by logistical challenges also it’s not just a pilot training the US says maintenance is also a key part as even the maintainers need to be trained meanwhile Ukrainian president vadir zeny on Wednesday urg Ukraine’s allies to speed up deliveries of war planes following a deadly Russian strike on the city of Kaki he said Ukraine needs 120 to 130 f-16s for air parody with Russia all right moving on to Europe where Ukraine is expecting its first F-16 fighter jets from its Western allies in the coming weeks and a bid to take on the Russia air superiority but now its challenge is who will fly these incoming fighter jets keev does not have trained F-16 pilots and it is upset with the US for that it is not training its fighter pilots fast enough for their job Ukrainian officials claim a 30 of its Pilots are ready to start training on the f-16s but the US and Denmark are denying Its Spots at their training facility and delaying the much needed training the US however claims its Schoolhouse in Arizona can train only 12 Pilots at a time it also maintains that Ukraine’s Pilots are not yet ready to start flying its incoming F-16 jets in large numbers the US and its allies further say that Ukrainian Pilots are not up to the task as they are struggling with English language skills and the flying program as well Denmark Norway the Netherlands and Belgium have plg to send Ukraine more than 60 us made f-16s the aircraft are expected to arrive in trenches Ukraine argues that it urgently needs to train Pilots to fly the Jets as soon as they arrive the trouble over pilot training marks the latest hurdle in Ukraine’s drawn out quest for modern fighter jets the US holds that f-16s are no good to Ukraine if they are eliminated at the first instance if Ukrainian Pilots cannot do the job Western officials also say they’re confident in their schedule for training enough Ukrainian fighter pilots to fly the new f-16s Keith however also claims that the training program is too Limited in a catch22 situation Western officials say that they can not graduate too many Pilots before Ukraine has received enough jets for them to continue training as the pilots will lose their skills if they do not get enough flying hours keev started asking for us made f shortly after the Russian invasion began in 2022 but US President Joe Biden was initially reluctant to give the green light finally last year he approved third-party transfer of aircraft from Norway Belgium Denmark and the Netherlands but the training program was bogged down by logistical challenges also it’s not just the pilot training the US says maintenance is also a key part as even the mainers need to be trained as well meh Ukrainian president vlir zinski on Wednesday urged Ukraine’s allies to speed up deliveries of weapons and war planes following a deadly Russian strike on the city of harke he said Ukraine needs 120 to 130 f-16s for air parody with Russia now hours after the Kremlin said that the two-day peace Summit yielded no result Russian forces continue to pound Ukraine in the latest Russian missiles targeted Ukraine’s East Central Bava region on Monday at least 12 people including two children were injured and several power lines were damaged in the area the attack damaged several high-rise buildings and according to local authorities that Dows the fire over 53,000 private and 2,400 industrial consumers faced power Cuts due to the damage to power alliance with the war well into its 29th month and no signs of its slowing down NATO Chief has emphasized on more weapon supply for Ukraine as The Battered country’s forces scramble to fight back a Russian invasion the more credible our long-term support the quicker Moscow will realize it cannot wait us out and the sooner this war can end it may seem like a paradox but the path to peace is therefore more weapons for Ukraine the blog’s chief also urged for Country supporting Russia to face consequences the country in question is China Stenberg accused Beijing of worsening the Russia Ukraine war while also seeking better relations with the West publicly president shei has tried to create the impression that he’s taking a back seat in this conflict to avoid sanctions and keep trade flowing but the reality is that China is fueling the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II and at the same time it wants to maintain good relations with the West well Beijing cannot have it both ways at some point and unless China changes course allies need to impose a cost more than 20 NATO members will meet the military Alliance Target of spending at least 2% of their GDP on defense this year this as per NATO Secretary General Jen Stenberg the number of NATO allies now meeting the spending Target compares to less than 10 members 5 years ago across Europe and Canada the NATO allies are increasing defense spending by 18% 23 countri countries are going to spend 2% of their GDP or more on defense this year that’s more than twice the number four years ago Stenberg was in Washington for preparations for next month’s NATO Summit in the US capital NATO’s defense pending will be a major Topic at the Washington Summit speaking of the last two years Stenberg said that more than 2/3 of Europe’s defense Acquisitions about $140 billion were from us firms NATO’s defense spending has become highly contentious in recent years former US president Donald Trump has accused Europeans of spending too little on their own security and relying on the United States and uh today uh we are able to publish new figures for defense spending they show that um across Europe and Canada NATO allies are this year increasing defense spending by 18% uh that’s the biggest increase in decades um and um 23 allies uh are going to spend 2% of GDP or more uh on defense this year meanwhile Stenberg has also called for the NATO members to adapt its nuclear Arsenal on the face of security threats from Russia and China the NATO Chief said that the members were Consulting about deploying more nuclear weapons taking them out of storage and placing them on standby reacting to stenberg’s claim White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby has said that it would be responsible to not have those talks NATO is a defensive Alliance and uh NATO countries uh uh are some of the most sophisticated in the world when it comes to the military capabilities um and it would be irresponsible and imprudent if we weren’t constantly talking to our NATO allies about how to make sure we can meet our commitments to one another across a range of military capabilities Russian President Vladimir Putin is on a visit to North Korea his first in 24 years Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to bolster ties between the two countries North Korea in fact says the meeting between the two leaders demonstrated invincibility and durability of friendship and unity Pyongyang it’s called the country’s partnership and engine for accelerating the building of a new multi-polar world on the other hand the Pentagon it’s voiced concerns about the growing ties between Moscow and pongyang are we seeing deepening anti-west alignment here and how will this bolstered partnership between the two nuclear armed States impact the existing world order my name is himor sya and to discuss this we have with us Dr Robert Edwin Kelly American political analyst on inter carean Affairs and professor in the department of political science Pan national university sir thank you so much for joining us on weon hi thank you for having me so I want to First understand how does South Korea view this visit and deepening ties between north and Russia yeah I think there’s anxiety here in South Korea that the Russians might transfer something of genuine strategic value to North Korea right the uh North Koreans at at it seems you know we don’t know of course but it seems that the Russians or other North Koreans are transferring a great deal of ammunition to the Russians for their war in Ukraine it seems that the Russians are pretty desperate to get that right the the war is kind of turned into something of a stalemate and so the the concern is that uh the North Koreans might be able to bargain against Russian desperation to get some really significant help on satellites on missiles on uh on larger strategic assets and um you know we we just don’t know right North Kore aren’t going to tell us anything so there’s a lot of you know inqu fear here that uh you know something significant might be uh in the works might be shifted to to North Korea right so in fact I was just going to come to this Pentagon of course sees this as a cause for concern do you see this as a sign of growing anti-west alignment um for the no not not so much yet because I think a real sort of axis of sort of like anti-western ships or something like that that that would really I think require China’s full participation right I think right now what you’re seeing between North Korea and Russia is kind of a a transactional an alignment of convenience if you will that is to say that both Russia and North Korea are significantly isolated from the world economy they’re both now heavily sanctioned they don’t really have a lot of other diplomatic options so for example Russia would very much prefer to have a relationship with South Korea to North Korea South Korea is 32 times wealthier I believe now than North Korea South Korea can export and import a great deal from Russia North Korea can’t really do any of that right and the Russians going to the North Korean because that’s really you know one of the few States left that they can really approach and so I think what you’re right now have between the two of them is basically they’re both sort of painted into a corner and so they’re kind of working together because it’s helpful I’m not sure that this idea that you actually have the sort of like aess of autocracy coming together to sort of reorganize the world order that would require the the fin icial weight of China right to really sort of pay for the the cost of that because right now I think Russia and North Korea just are too they’re too weak to do that on their own all right now just coming back to a point that you made earlier as well NATO says that Russia’s war in Ukraine it was being propped up by North Korea along with China and Iran now North Korea it’s been accused of helping Russia with weapons in its fight against Ukraine and in exchange of that Putin says that it will help Kim Jong-un with spy satellite system so how do you assess this transactional relationship between the two yeah I think actually for the two of them it’s a pretty great relationship I mean you know for the rest of the world you know for us on the outside I think it’s pretty pretty bad but I think the two partners are getting actually a lot valuable out of it right I think that’s why this is this thing this relationship has bloomed so so rapidly because there are really good um uh they’re really good upsides for both you know it’s pretty clear in so in Ukraine for example I think this is where it’s most obvious in the Ukraine war it’s pretty clear that the Russian defense industrial base cannot keep up with Russia’s Battlefield losses we know the Russians are still starting to use equipment from the 1970s even the 1960s in the war right they just don’t have enough ammunition stocks to meet their needs right and we also know that North Korea has a Soviet style military industrial complex that goes back decades they’ve got huge stock piles and they’re selling those directly to the Russians so if you’re the Russians this is really great because you’re able to get shells really really fast for the war right on the other hand North Korea has real problems with missile launches and technology for reasons that are you know fairly obvious North Korea’s you know economically backward it’s scientific industrial complexes is fairly narrow outside of the the nuclear space and so if you can get stuff from the Russians for free right if you can s bargain these shells to get uh Russian missile technology telemetric data right it’s a pretty useful exchange right and I think the real question the big question is how desperate is Putin if he’s really really desperate for all these shells and he’ll be willing to give away more and more information to the North Koreans and that’s what we really don’t know on the outside just how much are the North Koreans going to be able to pull out of Putin in U because Putin’s so desperate for these to win the war to prosecute his his Ukraine war all right well Dr Kelly thank you so much for joining us on Von with your insights on this it was a pleasure talking to you thank you for having me now Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to bolster ties between the two countries Putin is on a visit to North Korea first time in 24 years right him this is the second meeting between the two leaders since September and experts say it is largely driven by Russian R’s need for weapons as its war with Ukraine continues North Korea says that the meeting between the two leaders demonstrates invincibility and durability of friendship and unity pong gang called the country’s partnership and engine for accelerating the building of a new multi-polar world the Pentagon voice concerns about the growing ties between Moscow and pongyang the deepening cooperation between Russia and the dprk uh is something uh that should be of concern uh especially to anyone that’s interested in maintaining peace and stability on the the Korean Peninsula um but also supporting the people of Ukraine as they continue to fight against Russian aggression now on the other hand NATO underscored that Russia’s war in Ukraine was being proed up by North Korea along with China and Iran NATO Chief stoltenberg said that the countries together wanted to see the Western Alliance fail also stoltenberg warned against the potential support that Russia provides to North Korea when it comes to the missiles and nuclear programs meanwhile Wednesday’s agenda includes one-on-one discussions between Putin and Kim Jong-un a Gala concert State reception honor guards document signing and a statement to the media all right to discuss things further we’re now being joined by Professor Peter kosnik professor of history and director of nuclear Studies Institute at American University sir thank you so much for joining us on world DNA glad to be with you uh sir of course North Korea and Russia are both heavily sanctioned by the West in recent times they’ve valed strong ties and the West alignment that is something that is deepening here this has raised and the United States has raised alarm over the same as well how do you think the West views this visit and what are the challenges that it perceives well clearly in the context of what’s happening internationally now this visit is very very significant we’ve seen a series of meetings recently there was the so-called peace Summit in uh in in Switzerland and that was a failure 160 countries were invited only 98 attended and of those 98 20 including India refused to sign the communic at the end of The Summit so that didn’t achieve anything there was a meeting of the G7 that just took place in Italy and that was also a lot of show and symbolism but didn’t really achieve very much you have leaders there almost all of whom are very very weak some of whom are on the way out and face serious challenges then you had NATO meetings in which they talked about increasing the number of deployed nuclear warheads so this is all going on the time that the situation in Ukraine is getting more and more intense especially with the new levels of Weaponry going in there and then the authorization by the US and others that Ukraine can use some of their weapons to strike inside of Russia so the tensions are heightening and North Korea has been providing Russia with very significant milit AR Aid Russia already is out producing NATO when it comes to artillery uh and and the Russians are deploying many times as much artillery but the South Koreans estimate that North Korea provided 5 million artillery shells last year and so that’s that Putin wants that military aid he wants the intercontinental ballistic missiles and Korea North Korea wants wants a lot of Russian military technological knoow as well as Russian wheat exports so it’s a kind of symbiotic relationship at a time when neither country has got a lot of allies on the world scene but the United States influence is not what it used to be either and so we’ve got the global South resisting the United States and growing ties between Russia China North Korea and Iran right uh Mr kosnik you very well covered all the parameters here of the ties between North Korea and Russia and like you mentioned North Korea is providing military aid to Russia according to reports in return in exchange Putin will help Kim with spy satellites like you mentioned how do you assess this transactional relationship or can we say friendship between Moscow and pong gang at this point of time and what perhaps can the West do to stop all of this with most of the missile and weapons going wi train Russia has been instrumental in supporting United Nations efforts to sanction North Korea in the past but beginning in March Russia vetoed a very important United Nations Mission uh to look to look into the sanctions about North Korea’s military policies and their missile tests uh and so with without Russia’s support the United Nations is going to be greatly weakened in that regard uh so what we’re seeing now is very very dangerous in my opinion we’re seeing greater and greater polarization Russia gets much closer to China to North Korea to Iran and others and and while the United States which used to be able to call the shots internationally is an increasingly weakened position with the possibility frightening as it is to me that Donald Trump might be the next president and if that happens then America’s alliances not only NATO but with the Europeans and America’s support for Ukraine could certainly be or ended so has a lot lot of moving parts right now and a lot of uncertainty and rather than move toward a multi-polar world we’re going toward a bipolar World which is not the same thing uh right sir in fact absolutely uh I wanted better understanding on this coming back to a point that you made earlier now I want to understand what does this visit mean for Ukraine as you mentioned this comes after a failed Swiss peace Conference of course the G7 Summit which saw no concrete results either do you think this visit is a chance for Russia to perhaps show that it’s not isolated anymore well we know that the Western sanctions against Russia have not worked partly because China and India have been buying up Russian oil that the Europeans used to get which is hurting the European economies because they’re paying more for their oil so the growth rate in Europe is lower than the growth rate in Russia right now so we see that happening uh in terms of Ukraine Russia already is gaining the advantage on the battlefield since they open up the new front in North East around Kar Ukraine has had to move a lot of its troops from the south and the East and especially in the East Russia’s been able to make more and more slow incremental gains uh there are more weapon systems coming into Ukraine including f16s and that might help Ukraine but that’s the fantasy is that somehow Ukraine is going to be able to turn the ti of the war I don’t see it happening Russia is just too strong they’ve got too much armaments and they’ve got too big a population and so the fear that everybody has right now is we’re moving closer and closer to a military confrontation between Russia and NATO or Russia and China and NATO which could mean World War I we need to diplomacy as gutterz and others have been saying we this fighting is not going to solve anything right we need to sit down and start talking all right well uh Professor Kik thank you so much for joining us on world DNA with your insights on this after making the rare visit the Russian Navy vessels have now left the Kuban capital of haana as per sources the Russian Navy frade and a nuclear powered submarine arrived in haana Harbor last week just hours after the US announced a fast attack submarine had talked at its Guantanamo Naval Base now the Confluence of Russian Canadian and US vessels in Kuba a communist run Island na located just 90 Mi south of Florida was a reminder of Cold War tensions but both the United States and Cuba said that the warship spot over POS no threat the visit however was widely seen as a Russian show Force amid continued High tensions over the war in Ukraine as the flotilla of the Russian Navy vessels left the port locals gathered to witness the scene and bid moscow’s task force a farewell the for ship task force Departed the cola peninsula on 17th of May it sailed across the Atlantic arriving off the coast of Florida before entering Havana Harbor the Russian ships were greeted by Kuba with a salute of cannon fire as they passed fishermen and wellwishers as I came for the reception I also came for the farewell because it’s a historical event and I think it will be unrepeatable for our generations and those of us who are living right now the Royal Canadian Navy meanwhile finds itself in the unusual position for both shadowing Russian warships as a threat in the Caribbean as well as sharing an Anchorage with them at the port for several days the Brigade hmcs was cast with shadowing the Russian ships which conducted missile exercises during their Atlantic Crossing using the new ziron Hypersonic missiles the Canadian frigate was a part of the three ship group that tracked the Russian vessels along with the US destroy Destroyer USS Tru and the US Coast Guard Cutter us CGS Stone Canada also flew out a CP 140 surveillance plane out of Florida in addition to the US Naval surveillance aircraft the Canadian defense minister Bill Blair now says that he was acting on advice of military when he approved a plan to send a Canadian ship to Cuba he added that the Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian joint operations commanded advis to send a ship the Canadian liberal government meanwhile said that the visit was meant to send a message of deterence to Moscow in the latest development the Kremlin has dismissed the outcome of the peace Summit on Ukraine hosted by Switzerland calling the peace Summit futile Gremlin spokesperson Dimitri pesov told reporters the result of the meeting were Court un courot close to zero in his statement pesov also ridiculed the idea of holding a peace Summit without Russia being present at the negotiating table pesov further added that Russia remains open to dialogue with all countries that intend to conduct it he stressed that Russia will continue to convey its positions to these countries here’s what CR spokesperson Dimitri pesov had to say and I’m quoting [Music] more 90 countries participated in the two-day talks in Swiss Alpine Resort held in the presence of Ukrainian President Vladimir zilinski while Moscow was not invited Russian President Putin said last week that Russia was ready to end the war with Ukraine but with certain conditions in place one of the conditions rejected by the Ukrainian side was Russia’s demand to withdraw all troops from four Russian controlled regions at the weekend Summit in Switzerland Western powers and their allies Den Russia’s invasion of Ukraine however the summit failed to Gana support from major non-aligned States to join their final statement Brazil attended only as an observer and in the end India Indonesia Mexico Saudi Arabia and South Africa all withheld their signatures from official communic foundational principles of the United Ukraine has to leave additional Sovereign Ukrainian territory before Russia will negotiate strongly defend them there is no International order of the UN Charter thank you very much slav Ukrainian this is why the precondition is peace based on the foundational principles of the United Nation Ukraine has to leave additional Sovereign Ukrainian territory before Russia will negotiate not strongly defend them there is no International order of the UN Charter thank you very much slav Ukrainian this is why the precondition is peace based on the foundational principles of the United Nation Ukraine has to leave additional Sovereign Ukraine Ukraine is expecting its first F-16 fire jets from its Western allies in the coming weeks to take on the Russian air superiority but now its challenge is who will M man these incoming fighter jets now cave does not have trained 516 pilots and it is upset with the US for that it is not training its fighter pilots fast enough for their job Ukrainian officials claim 30 of its Pilots are ready to start training on the f-16s but the US and Denmark are denying Its Spots at their training facilities and delaying the much needed training the US however claims it Schoolhouse in Arizona can train only 12 Pilots at a time it also maintained that Ukraine’s Pilots are not yet ready to start flying its incoming F-16 jets in large numbers the US and its allies further say that Ukrainian Pilots not up to the task as they are struggling with English language skills and the flying program Denmark Norway the Netherlands and Belgium have pledged to send Ukraine more than 60 us made f-16s the UK the aircraft are expected to arrive in trenches Ukraine argues that it is it originally needs the train Pilots to fly the Jets as soon as they arrive the trouble over pilot training marks the latest hurdle in Ukraine’s drawn out quest for Mor fighter jets the US holds that f16s are no good to Ukraine if they are eliminated at the first instance if Ukrainian Pilots cannot do their job Western officials also say they are confident in their schedule for training enough Ukrainian fighter pilots to fly the new f-16s KF however also claims that the training program is too Limited in a cash 22 situation Western officials say they cannot graduate too many Pilots before Ukraine has received enough jets for them to continue training as the pilots will lose their skills if they do not get enough flying hours KF started asking for us made F16 shortly after the Russia invasion began in 2022 but US President Joe Biden was initially reluctant to give the green light finally last year he approved thirdparty transfer of aircraft from Norway Belgium Denmark and the Netherlands but the training program was bogged down by logistical challenges also it’s not just a pilot training the US says maintenance is also a key part as even the maintainers need to be trained meanwhile Ukrainian president vair zeny on wed urged Ukraine’s allies to speed up deliveries of war planes following a deadly Russian St on the city of kakei he said Ukraine needs 120 to 130 f-16s for air parody with Russia all right moving on to Europe where Ukraine is expecting its first F-16 fighter jets from its Western allies in the coming weeks in a bid to take on the Russia air superiority but now its challenge is who will fly these incoming fighter jets keev does not have trained F-16 pilots and it is upset with the US for that it is not training its fighter pilots fast enough for their job Ukrainian officials claim a 30 of its Pilots are ready to start training on the f-16s but the US and Denmark are denying Its Spots at their training facilities and delaying the much needed training the US however claims its Schoolhouse in Arizona can train only 12 Pilots at a time it also maintains that Ukraine’s Pilots are not yet ready to start flying its incoming F-16 jets in large numbers the US and its allies further say that Ukrainian Pilots are not up to the task as they are struggling with English language skills and the flying program as well Denmark Norway the Netherlands and Belgium have pledged to send Ukraine more than 60 us made f-16s the aircraft are expected to arrive in trenches Ukraine argues that it urgently needs the train Pilots to fly the Jets as soon as they arrive the trouble over pilot training marks the latest hurdle in Ukraine’s drawn out quest for modern fighter jets the US holds that f-16s are no good to Ukraine if they are eliminated at the first instance if Ukrainian Pilots cannot do the job Western officials also say they’re confident in their schedule for training enough Ukrainian fighter pilots to fly the new f-16s Kei however also claims that the training program is too Limited in a catch 22 situation Western officials say that they can not graduate too many Pilots before Ukraine has received enough jets for them to continue training as the pilots will lose their skills if they do not get enough flying hours keev started asking for us made f-16s shortly after the Russian invasion began in 2022 but US President Joe Biden was initially reluctant to give the green light finally last year he approved thirdparty transfer of aircraft from Norway Belgium Denmark and the Netherlands but the training program was bogged down by logistical challenges also it’s not just the pilot training the US says maintenance is also a key part as even the mainers need to be trained as well meanwhile Ukrainian president VL zalinsky on Wednesday urg Ukraine’s allies to speed up deliveries of weapons and war planes following a deadly Russian strike on the city of harke he said Ukraine needs 120 to 130 f-16s for air parody with Russia now hours after the Kremlin said that the two-day peace Summit yielded no results Russian forces continue to pound Ukraine in the latest Russian missiles targeted Ukraine’s East Central Bava region on Monday at least 12 people including two children were injured and several Power lies were damaged in the area the attack damaged several high-rise buildings and according to local authorities that Dows the fire over 53,000 private and 2,400 industrial consumers faced power Cuts due to the damage to power lines with the war well into its 29th month and no signs of its slowing down NATO Chief has emphasized on more weapon supply for Ukraine as The Battered country’s forces scramble to fight back a Russian Invasion the more credible our long-term support the quicker Moscow will realize it cannot wait us out and the sooner this war can end it may seem like a paradox but the path to peace is therefore more weapons for Ukraine the blog’s chief also urged for Country supporting Russia to face consequences the confin question is China Stenberg accused Beijing of worsening the Russia Ukraine war while also seeking better relations with the West publicly president shei has trying to create the impression that he’s taking a backseat in this conflict to avoid sanctions and keep trade flowing but the reality is that China is fueling the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II and at the same time it wants to maintain good relations with the West well Beijing cannot have it both ways at some point and unless China changes course allies need to impose a cost more than 20 NATO members will meet the military Alliance Target of spending at least 2% of their GDP on defense this year this as per NATO Secretary General General Jen Stenberg the number of NATO allies now meeting the spending Target compares to less than 10 members 5 years ago across Europe and Canada the NATO allies are increasing defense spending by 18% 23 countries are going to spend 2% of their GDP or more on defense this year that’s more than twice the number four years ago Stenberg was in Washington for preparations for next month’s NATO Summit in the US Capital NATO’s defense pending will be a major Topic at the Washington Summit speaking of the last 2 years Stenberg said that more than 2/3 of Europe’s defense Acquisitions about $140 billion were from us firms NATO’s defense spending has become highly contentious in recent years former US president Donald Trump has accused Europeans of spending too little on their own security and relying on the United States and uh today uh we are able to publish new figures for defense spending they show that um across Europe and Canada NATO allies are this year increasing defense spending by 18% uh that’s the biggest increase in decades um and um 23 allies uh are going to spend 2 % of GDP or more uh on the fence this year meanwhile Stenberg has also called for the NATO members to adapt its nuclear Arsenal on the face of security threats from Russia and China the NATO Chief said that the members were Consulting about deploying more nuclear weapons taking them out of storage and placing them on standby reacting to St bir’s claim White House National Security spokesperson join has said that it would be IR responsible to not have those talks NATO is a defensive Alliance and uh NATO countries uh uh are some of the most sophisticated in the world when it comes to military capabilities um and it would be irresponsible and imprudent if we weren’t constantly talking to our NATO allies about how to make sure we can meet our commitments to one another across a range of military capabilities Russian President Vladimir Putin is on a visit to North Korea his first in 24 years Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to bolster ties between the two countries North Korea in fact says the meeting between the two leaders demonstrated invincibility and durability of friendship and unity Pyongyang it’s called the country’s partnership and engine for accelerating the building of a new multi-polar world on the other hand the Pentagon it’s voiced concerns about the growing ties between Moscow and pongyang are we seeing deepening anti-west alignment here and how will this bolstered partnership between the two nuclear armed States impact the existing world order my name is himor sya and to discuss this we have with us Dr Robert Edwin Kelly American political analyst on interc carean Affairs and professor in the department of political science Pan national university sir thank you so much for joining us on weon hi thank you for having me so I want to First understand how does South Korea view this visit and deepening ties between north and Russia yeah I think there’s anxiety here in South Korea that the Russians might transfer something of genuine strategic value to North Korea right the uh North Koreans it see it seems you know we don’t know of course but it seems that the Russians or other North Koreans are transferring a great deal of ammunition to the Russians for their war in Ukraine it seems that the Russians are pretty desperate to get that right the the war is kind of turned into something of a stalemate and so the the concern is that uh the North Koreans might be able to bargain against Russian desperation to get some really significant help on satellites on missiles on uh on larger strategic assets and um you know we we just don’t know right of course the north greens aren’t going to tell us anything so there’s a lot of you know inate fear here that uh you know something significant might be uh in the works might be shifted to the to North Korea right so in fact I was just going to come to this Pentagon of course sees this as a cause for concern do you see this as a sign of growing anti-west alignment um for the no not not so much yet because I think a real sort of axis of sort of like anti-western dictatorships or something like that that that would really I think require China’s full participation right I think right now what you’re seeing between North Korea and Russia is kind of a a transactional an alignment of convenience if you will that is to say both Russia and North Korea are significantly isolated from the world economy they’re both now heavily sanctioned they don’t really have a lot of other diplomatic options so for example Russia would very much prefer to have a relationship with South Korea to North Korea South Korea is 32 times wealthier I believe now than North Korea South Korea can export and import a great deal from Russia North Korea can’t really do any of that right and the Russians going to the North Koreans because that’s really you know one of the few States left that they can really approach and so I think what right now have between the two of them is basically they’re both sort of painted into a corner and so they’re kind of working together because it’s helpful I’m not sure that this idea that you actually have the sort of like AIS of autocracy coming together to sort of reorganize the world order that would require the the financial weight of China right to really sort of pay for the the cost of that because right now I think Russia and North Korea just are too they’re too weak to do that on their own all right now just coming back to a point that you made earlier as well NATO says that Russia’s w a new Ukraine it was being propped up by North Korea along with China and Iran now North Korea it’s been accused of helping Russia with weapons in its fight against Ukraine and in exchange of that Putin says that it will help Kim Jong-un with spy satellite system so how do you assess this transactional relationship between the two yeah I think actually for the two of them it’s a pretty great relationship I mean you know for the rest of the world you know for us on the outside I think it’s pretty pretty bad but I think the two partners are getting actually a lot valuable out of it right I think that’s why this is this thing this relationship is Loom so so rapidly because there are really good um uh they are really good upsides for both you know it’s pretty clear in so in Ukraine for example I think this is where it’s most obvious in the Ukraine war it’s pretty clear that the Russian defense industrial base cannot keep up with Russia’s Battlefield losses we know the Russians are starting to use equipment from the 1970s even the 1960s in the war right they just don’t have enough ammunition stocks to meet their needs right and we also know that North Korea has a Soviet style military industrial complex that goes back decades they’ve got huge stock piles and they’re selling those directly to the Russians so you’re the Russians this is really great because you’re able to get shells really really fast for the war right on the other hand North Korea has real problems with missile launches and technology for reasons that are you know fairly obvious North Korea’s you know economically backward it’s scientific industrial complex is fairly narrow outside of the the nuclear space and so if you can get stuff from the Russians for free right if you can bargain these shells to get uh Russian missile technology telemetric data right it’s a pretty useful exchange right and I think the real question the big question is how desperate is Putin if he’s really really desperate for all these shells and he’ll be willing to give away more and more information to the North Koreans and that’s what we really don’t know on the outside just how much are the North Koreans going to be able to pull out of Putin in U because Putin’s so desperate for these shells to win the war to prosecute his his Ukraine war all right well Dr Kelly thank you so much for joining us on Von with your insights on this it was a pleasure talking to you thank you for having me now Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Kore leader Kim Jong-un agreed to bolster ties between the two countries Putin is on a visit to North Korea first time in 24 years right him this is the second meeting between the two leaders since September and experts say it is largely driven by Russia’s need for weapons as its war with Ukraine continues North Korea says that the meeting between the two leaders demonstrates invincibility and durability of friendship and unity pong called the country’s partnership and engine for accelerating the building of a new multi-polar world the Pentagon vo concerns about the growing ties between Moscow and pongyang the deepening cooperation between Russia and the dprk uh is something uh that should be of concern uh especially to anyone that’s interested in maintaining peace and stability on the the Korean Peninsula um but also supporting the people of Ukraine Ukraine as they continue to fight against Russian aggression now on the other hand NATO underscored that Russia’s war in Ukraine was being proed up by North Korea along with China and Iran NATO Chief stoltenberg said that the countries together wanted to see the Western Alliance fail also stoltenberg warned against the potential support that Russia provides to North Korea when it comes to the missiles and nuclear programs meanwhile Wednesday’s agenda includes one-on-one discussions between Putin and Kim Jong-un a Gala concert State reception onor guards document signing and a statement to the media all right to discuss things further we’re now being joined by Professor Peter kosnik professor of history and director of nuclear Studies Institute at American University sir thank you so much for joining us on world DNA back be with you uh sir of course North Korea and Russia are both heavily sanctioned by the West in recent times they’ve valed strong ties and the West alignment that is something that is deepening here this has raised and the United States has raised alarm over the same as well how do you think the West views this visit and what are the challenges that it perceives well clearly in the context of what’s happening internationally now this visit is very very significant we’ve seen a series of meetings recently there was the so-called peace Summit in uh in in Switzerland and that was a failure 160 countries were invited only 98 attended and of those 98 20 including India refused to sign the communic at the end of The Summit so that didn’t achieve anything there was a meeting of the G7 that just took place in Italy and that was also a lot of show and symbolism but didn’t really achieve very much you have leaders there almost all of whom are very very weak some of whom are on the way out and face serious challenges then you had NATO meetings in which they talked about increasing the number of deployed nuclear warheads so this is all going on the time that the situation in Ukraine is getting more and more intense especially with the new levels of weapon going in there and then the authorization by the US and others that Ukraine can use some of their weapons to strike inside of Russia so the tensions are heightening and North Korea has been providing Russia with very significant military aid Russia already is out producing NATO when it comes to artillery uh and and the Russians are deploying many times as much artillery but the South Koreans estimate that North Korea provided 5 million artillery shells last year and so that’s that Putin wants that military aid he wants the intercontinental ballistic missiles and Korea North Korea wants a lot of Russian military technological knowhow as well as Russian wheat exports so it’s a kind of symbiotic relationship at a time when neither country has got a lot of I on the world scene but the United States influence is not what it used to be either and so we’ve got the global South resisting the United States and growing ties between Russia China North Korea and Iran right uh Mr kosnik you very well covered all the parameters here of the ties between North Korea and Russia and like you mentioned North Korea is providing military aid to Russia according to reports in return in change Putin will help Kim with spy satellites like you mentioned how do you assess this transactional relationship or can we say friendship between Moscow and pong gang at this point of time and what perhaps can the West do to stop all of this with most of the missiles and weapons going WIA train Russia has been instrumental in supporting United Nations efforts to sanction North Korea in the past but beginning in March Russia vetoed a very important United Nations Mission uh to look look into the sanctions about North Korea’s military policies and their missile tests uh and so without Russia’s support the United Nations is going to be greatly weakened in that regard uh so what we’re seeing now is very very dangerous in my opinion we’re seeing greater and greater polarization Russia gets much closer to China to North Korea to Iran and others and and while the United States which used to be able to call the shots internationally is an increasingly weaken position with the possibility frightening as it is to me that Donald Trump might be the next president and and if that happens then America’s alliances not only NATO but with the Europeans and America’s support for Ukraine could certainly Beed or ended so know there’s a lot lot of moving parts right now and a lot of uncertainty and rather than move toward a multi-polar world we’re going toward a bipolar World which is not the same thing uh right so in fact absolutely uh I wanted better understanding on this coming back to a point that you made earlier now I want to understand what does this visit mean for Ukraine as you mentioned this comes after a failed Swiss peace Conference of course the G7 Summit which saw no concrete results either do you think this visit is a chance for Russia to perhaps show that it’s not isolated anymore well we know that the Western sanctions against Russia have not worked partly because China and India have been buying up Russian oil that the Europeans used to get which is hurting the European economies CU they’re paying more for their oil so the growth rate in Europe is lower than the growth rate in Russia right now so we see that happening uh in terms of Ukraine Russia already is gaining the advantage on the battlefield since they opened up the new front in Northeast around K Ukraine has had to move a lot of its troops from the south and the East and especially in the East Russia’s been able to make more and more slow incremental gains uh there are more weapon systems coming into Ukraine including f-16s and that might help Ukraine but that’s the fantasy is that somehow Ukraine is going to be able to turn the tide of the war I don’t see it happening Russia is just too strong they’ve got too much armaments and they’ve got too big a population and so the fear that everybody has right now is we’re moving closer and closer to a military confrontation between Russia and NATO or Russia and China and NATO which could mean World War I we need to diplomacy as gutterz and others have been saying we this fighting is not going to solve anything we need to sit down and start talking all right well uh Professor Kik thank you so much for joining us on world DNA with your insights on this after making the red visit the Russian Navy vessels have now left the Kuban capital of haana as per sources the Russian Navy frade and a nuclear powered submarine arrived in haana Harbor last week just hours after the US announced a fast attack submarine had talked at its Guantanamo Naval Base now the Confluence of Russian Canadian and US vessels in Kuba a communist run island nation located just 90 Mi south of Florida was a reminder of Cold War tensions but both the United States and Cuba said that the warship spot over POS no threat the visit however was widely seen as a Russian show for amid continued High tensions over the war in Ukraine as the flotilla of the Russian Navy vessels left the port locals gathered to witness the scene and bid moscow’s task force a farewell the for ship task force Departed the cola Peninsula on 17th of May it sailed across the Atlantic arriving off the coast of Florida before entering Havana Harbor the Russian ships were greeted by Kuba with a salute of cannon fire as they passed fishermen and well wishers as I came for the reception I also came for the farewell because it’s a historical event and I think it will be unrepeatable for our generations and those of us who are living right now the Royal Canadian Navy meanwhile finds itself in the unusual position for both shadowing Russian warships as a threat in the Caribbean as well as sharing and Anchorage with them at the port for several days the Brigade hmcs was tasked with shadowing the Russian ships which conducted missile exercises during their Atlantic Crossing using the new ziron Hypersonic missiles the Canadian frigate was a part of the three ship group that tracked the Russian vessels along with the US Destroyer USS Tron and the US Coast Guard Cutter us CGS Stone Canada also flew out a CP 140 surveillance plane out of Florida in addition to the US Naval surveillance aircraft the Canadian defense minister Bill Blair now says that he was acting on advice of military when he approved a plan to send a Canadian ship to Cuba he added that the Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian joint Operations Command advised to send a ship the Canadian liberal government meanwhile said that the visit was meant to send a message of deterence to Moscow in the latest development the Kremlin has dismissed the outcome come of the peace Summit on Ukraine hosted by Switzerland calling the peace Summit futile Kremlin spokesperson Dimitri pesov told reporters the result of the meeting were Court un courot close to zero in his statement pesov also ridiculed the idea of holding a peace Summit without Russia being present at the negotiating table pesov further added that Russia remains open to dialogue with all countries that intend to conduct it he stressed that Russia will continue to convey its positions to these countries here’s what kemin spokesperson Dimitri pesov had to say and I’m quoting [Music] more than 90 countries participated in the two-day talks in Swiss Alpine Resort held in the presence of Ukrainian president vadir zelinsky while Moscow was not invited Russian President Putin said last week that Russia Russia was ready to end the war with Ukraine but with certain conditions in place one of the conditions rejected by the Ukrainian side was Russia’s demand to withdraw all troops from four Russian controlled regions and the weekend Summit in Switzerland Western powers and their allies denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine however the summit failed to Gana support from major nonaligned States to join their final statement Brazil attended only as an observer and in the end India Indonesia Mexico South Arabia and South Africa all withheld their signatures from official communi foundational principles of the United Ukraine has to leave additional Sovereign Ukrainian territory before Russia will negotiate to strongly defend them there is no International order of the UN Charter thank you very much Ukrainian this is why the precondition is peace based on the foundational principles of the United Nation Ukraine has to leave additional Sovereign Ukrainian territory before Russia will negotiate not strongly defend them there is no International order of the UN Charter thank you very much slav Ukrainian this is why the precondition is peace based on the foundational principles of the United ntion Ukraine has to leave additional Sovereign Ukraine Ukraine is expecting its first F-16 fighter jets from its Western allies in the coming weeks to take on the Russian air superiority but now its challenge is who will M man these incoming fighter jets now K does not have trained 516 pilots and it is upset with the US for that it is not training its fighter pilots fast enough for their job Ukrainian officials claim 30 of its Pilots are ready to start training on the f-16s but the US and Denmark are denying Its Spots at their training facilities and delaying the much needed training the US however claims its Schoolhouse in Arizona can train only 12 Pilots at a time it also maintained that Ukraine’s Pilots are not yet ready to start flying its incoming F-16 jets in large numbers the US and its allies further say that Ukrainian Pilots not up to the task as they are struggling with English language skills and the flying program Denmark Norway the Netherlands and Belgium have pledged to send Ukraine more than 60 us made f-16s the UK their aircraft are expected to arrive in trenches Ukraine argues that it is it urgently needs the train Pilots to fly the Jets as soon as they arrive the trouble over pilot training marks the latest hurdle in Ukraine’s drawn out quest for from Modern fighter jets the US holds that f16s are no good to Ukraine if they are eliminated at the first instance if Ukrainian Pilots cannot do their job Western officials also say they are confident in their schedule for training enough Ukrainian fighter pilots to fly the new f-16s KF however also claims that the training program is too Limited in a cash 22 situation Western officials say they cannot graduate too many Pilots before ukra has received enough jets for them to continue training as the pilots will lose their skills if they do not get enough flying hours KF started asking for us made F-16 shortly after the Russia invasion began in 2022 but US President Joe Biden was initially reluctant to give the green light finally last year he approved thirdparty transfer of aircraft from Norway Belgium Denmark and the Netherlands but the training program was bogged down by logistical challenges also it’s not just a pilot training the US says maintenance is also a key part as even the maintainers need to be trained meanwhile Ukrainian president vair zeni on Wednesday urged Ukraine’s allies to speed up deliveries of war planes following a deadly Russian strike on the city of Kaki he said Ukraine needs 120 to 130 f-16s for air parody with Russia all right moving on to Europe where Ukraine is expecting its first F-16 fighter jets from its Western allies in the coming weeks and a bid to take on the Russia air superiority but now its challenge is who will fly these incoming fighter jets keev does not have trained F-16 pilots and it is upset with the US for that it is not training its fighter pilots fast enough for their job Ukrainian officials claim a 30 of its Pilots are ready to start training on the f-16s but the US and Denmark are denying Its Spots at their training facilities and delaying the much needed training the US however claims its Schoolhouse in Arizona can train only 12 Pilots at a time it also maintains that Ukraine’s Pilots are not yet ready to start flying its incoming F-16 jets in large numbers the US and its allies further say that Ukrainian Pilots are not up to the task as they are struggling with English language skills and the flying program as well Denmark Norway the Netherlands and Belgium have pledged to send Ukraine more than 60 us-made f-16s the aircraft are expected to arrive in trenches Ukraine argues that it urgently needs the train Pilots to fly the Jets as soon as they arrive the trouble over pilot training marks the latest hurdle in Ukraine’s drawn out quest for modern fighter jets the US holds that f-16s are no good to Ukraine if they are eliminated at the first instance if Ukrainian Pilots cannot do the job Western officials also say they’re confident in their schedule for training enough Ukrainian fighter pilots to fly the new f-16s Kei however also claims that the training program is too Limited in a catch22 situation Western officials say that they can not graduate too many Pilots before Ukraine has received enough jets for them to continue training as the pilots will lose their skills if they do not get enough fly Ling hours keev started asking for us made f-16s shortly after the Russian invasion began in 2022 but US President Joe Biden was initially reluctant to give the green light finally last year he approved third-party transfer of aircraft from Norway Belgium Denmark and the Netherlands but the training program was bogged down by logistical challenges also it’s not just the pilot training the US says maintenance is also a key part as even the mainten need to be trained as well meanwhile Ukrainian president vlir zalinsky on Wednesday urged Ukraine’s allies to speed up deliveries of weapons and war planes following a deadly Russian strike on the city of harke he said Ukraine needs 120 to 130 f-16s for air parody with Russia now hours after the CR said that the two-day peace Summit yielded no results Russian forces continue to pound Ukraine in the latest Russian missiles targeted Ukraine’s East Central Bava region on Monday at least 12 people including two children were injured and several power lines were damaged in the area the attack damaged several high-rise buildings and according to local authorities that Dows the fire over 53,000 private and 2,400 industrial consumers power Cuts due to the damage to power lines with the war well into its 29th month and no signs of its slowing down NATO Chief has emphasized on more weapon supply for Ukraine as The Battered Count’s forces cramble to fight back a Russian invasion the more credible our long-term support the quicker Moscow will realize it cannot wait us out and the sooner this war War can end it may seem like a paradox but the path to peace is therefore more weapons for Ukraine the blog’s chief also urged for Country supporting Russia to face consequences the country in question is China Stenberg accused Beijing of worsening the Russia Ukraine war while also seeking better relations with the West publicly president XI has tried to create the impression that he’s taking a backseat in this conflict to avoid sanctions and keep trade flowing but the reality is that China is fueling the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II and at the same time it wants to maintain good relations with the West well Beijing cannot have it both ways at some point and unless China Chang its course allies need to impose a cost more than 20 NATO members will meet the military Alliance Target of spending at least 2% of their GDP on defense this year this as per NATO Secretary General Jen Stenberg the number of NATO allies now meeting the spending Target compares to less than 10 members 5 years ago across Europe and Canada the NATO allies are increasing defense spending by 18% 23 countries are going to spend 2% of their GDP or more on defense this year that’s more than twice the number four years ago Stenberg was in Washington for preparations for next month’s NATO Summit in the US capital NATO’s defense pending will be a major Topic at the Washington Summit speaking of the last two years Stenberg said that more than 2/3 of Europe’s defense Acquisitions about $40 billion were from us firms NATO’s defense spending has become highly contentious in recent years former US president Donald Trump has accused Europeans of spending too little on their own security and relying on the United States and uh today uh we are able to publish new figures for defense spending they show that U across Europe and Canada uh NATO allies are this year increasing defense spending by 18% uh that’s the biggest increase in decades um and um 23 allies uh are going to spend 2% of GDP or more uh on the fense this year meanwhile Stenberg has also called for the NATO members to adapt its nuclear Arsenal on the face of security threats from from Russia and China the NATO Chief said that the members were Consulting about deploying more nuclear weapons taking them out of storage and placing them on standby reacting to st’s claim White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby has said that it would be responsible to not have those talks NATO is a defensive Alliance and uh NATO countries uh uh are some of the most sophisticated in the world when it comes to military capabilities um and it would be irresponsible and imprudent if we weren’t constantly talking to our NATO allies about how to make sure we can meet our commitments to one another across a range of military capabilities Russian President Vladimir Putin is on a visit to North Korea his first in 24 years Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to bolster ties between the two countries North Korea in fact says the meeting between the two leaders demonstrated invincibility and durability of friendship and unity Pyongyang it’s called the country’s partnership and engine for accelerating the building of a new multi-polar world on the other hand the Pentagon it’s voiced concerns about the growing ties between Moscow and pongyang are we seeing deepening anti-west alignment here and how will this bolstered partnership between the two nuclear armed States impact the existing world order my name is him Coro and to discuss this we have with us Dr Robert Edwin Kelly American political analyst on inter carean Affairs and professor in the department of political science Pan national university sir thank you so much for joining us on weon hi thank you for having me sir I want to First understand how does South Korea view this visit and deepening ties between north and Russia yeah I think there’s anxiety here in South Korea that the Russians might transfer something of genuine strategic value to North Korea right the uh North Koreans it see it seems you know we don’t know of course but it seems that the Russians are the North Koreans are transferring a great deal of ammunition to the Russians for their war in Ukraine it seems that the Russians are pretty desperate to get that right the the war is kind of turned into something of a stalemate and so the the concern is that uh the North Koreans might be able to bargain against Russian desperation to get some really significant help on satellites on missiles on uh on larger strategic ass and um you know we we just don’t know right of course the north korein aren’t going to tell us anything so there’s a lot of you know inco fear here that uh you know something significant might be uh in the works might be shifted to the to North Korea all right so in fact I was just going to come to this Pentagon of course sees this as a cause for concern do you see this as a sign of growing anti-west alignment um for the no not not so much yet because I think a real sort of AIS of sort of like anti-western dictatorships or something like that that that would really I think require China’s full participation right I think right now what you’re seeing between North Korea and Russia is kind of a a transactional an alignment of convenience if you will that is to say that both Russia and North Korea are significantly isolated from the world economy they’re both now heavily sanctioned they don’t really have a lot of other diplomatic options so for example Russia would very much prefer to have a relationship with South Korea to North Kore Korea South Korea is 32 times wealthier I believe now than North Korea South Korea can export and import a great deal from Russia North Korea can’t really do any of that right and the Russians going to the North Koreans because that’s really you know one of the few States left that they can really approach and so I think what you’re right now have between the two of them is basically they’re both sort of painted into a corner and so they’re kind of working together because it’s helpful I’m not sure that this idea that you actually have the sort of like AIS of autocracy coming together to sort of reorganize the world order that would require the the financial weight of China right to really sort of pay for the the cost of that because right now I think Russia and North Korea just are too they’re too weak to do that on their own all right now just coming back to a point that you had made earlier as well NATO says that Russia’s war in Ukraine it was being propped up by North Korea along with China and Iran now North Korea it’s been accused of helping Russia with weapons in its fight against Ukraine and in exchange of that Putin says that it will help Kim Jong-un with spy satellite system so how do you say this transactional relationship between the two yeah I think actually for the two of them it’s a pretty great relationship I mean you know for the rest of the world you know for us on the outside I think it’s pretty pretty bad but I think the two partners are getting actually a lot valuable out of it right I think that’s why this is this

Russia on Tuesday claimed strikes on Ukrainian ammo depots while Ukraine reported destroying Russia tanks over the past 24 hours.

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