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Separatists seek North Korea’s help for rebuild

The head of Russian proxy forces in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region has sent a message to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un calling for co-operation, amid signs North Korea is considering sending labourers for restoration projects in Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine.

North Korea last month became one of the few nations in the world to recognise the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk, another Russian-backed separatist region in eastern Ukraine, prompting Kyiv to cut diplomatic ties with Pyongyang.

There are indications that North Korea is reviewing plans to send workers for restoration projects in those regions, which could help its economy but run against United Nations Security Council sanctions over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles programme.

Donetsk separatist leader Denis Pushilin expressed hope that his Moscow-backed republic and North Korea could achieve ‘‘equally beneficial bilateral co-operation agreeing with the interests’’ of their people, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said.

Donetsk’s foreign ministry said its ambassador to Russia, Olga Makeeva, met with North Korean ambassador to Russia Sin Hong Chol in Moscow on July 29 to discuss economic cooperation. Sin said there would be ‘‘great potential’’ for bilateral cooperation in trade and the ‘‘field of labour migration’’, following North Korea’s easing of pandemic border controls. North Korea is reportedly having similar discussions with Luhansk.

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price last month criticised Russian suggestions that North Korean workers could be employed for restoration projects in Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine, saying that such arrangements would be ‘‘an affront to the sovereignty of Ukraine’’.

Luhansk and Donetsk together make up the Donbas region, a mostly Russianspeaking region of steel factories, mines and other industries in Ukraine’s east. Separatists have controlled parts of both provinces since 2014, but Russian President Vladimir Putin recognised their independence only shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Syria is the only other nation that has recognised their independence.

Kim has also been exploiting a division in the UN Security Council, that has deepened over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to accelerate his weapons development.

North Korea has test-fired more than 30 missiles this year alone, including its first flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile in nearly five years. There are also indications that the North is making preparations to resume nuclear weapons tests.

■ The first shipment of grain to leave Ukraine under a wartime deal appears to have ended up in Syria – a close ally of Moscow, satellite images analysed by the Associated Press show.

The arrival of the cargo ship Razoni in Syria comes after Ukraine’s government praised the ship’s initial departure from the port of Odesa as a sign that Ukraine could safely ship out its barley, corn, sunflower oil and wheat to a hungry world where global food prices have spiked, in part due to the war.

Images from Planet Labs PBC showed the Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni docked at the port of Tartus, next to the port’s grain silos.

The Razoni, loaded with 23,500 tonnes of corn, left Odesa on August 1. The cargo ship was the first to leave a Ukrainian-controlled port in the country since Russia launched the war in February.

Lebanon, the Razoni’s presumed destination, ended up not taking the shipment, as it struggles with its own economic crisis.

Since earlier this year, ships have carried Ukrainian foodstuffs from Russian-occupied territory to Syria. In May, satellite images showed the Russian-flagged Matros Pozynich at dockside in Latakia, Syria. Ukraine said the ship had 27,000 tonnes of grain Russia had stolen from it and initially tried to sell to Egypt, which refused to take the cargo.

World

en-nz

2022-08-18T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-08-18T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://stuff.pressreader.com/article/281865827260042

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