SEOUL – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has expressed “firm support and solidarity” for Russia in his congratulatory message to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Victory Day, which marks the 79th anniversary of the end of World War II, state news agency KCNA said on May 9.

Russia on May 9 marks the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II as relations with the West spiral deeper into crisis over the advance of Russian troops against Ukraine’s Western-backed forces.

“I express firm support and solidarity with the sacred cause of Russia, hoping that you and the brave Russian army and people would win fresh victory in the struggle to defeat the imperialists’ hegemonic policy,” Mr Kim said in his letter to Mr Putin, according to KCNA.

The US and others have accused North Korea of transferring weapons to Russia for use against Ukraine, which it invaded in February 2022. Both Moscow and Pyongyang have denied the accusations, but vowed in 2023 to deepen military relations.

The debris from a missile that landed in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Jan 2 was from a North Korean Hwasong-11 series ballistic missile, United Nations sanctions monitors told a Security Council committee in a report seen by Reuters. REUTERS