Putin hails North Korean ‘Heroes’ in Kursk, Kim Jong Un vows unshakable alliance ahead of Russia-US summit

These phone calls come ahead of Putin’s scheduled high-security meeting with US President Donald Trump on Friday at the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Russian mouthpiece Sputnik refers to these phone calls as prioritising the Global South leaders. Notably, after meeting with the US envoy led by Witkoff, Russian President Vladimir Putin had phone calls with India’s Modi, China’s Xi, South Africa’s Ramaphosa, Brazil’s Lula, and now North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, briefing them on Ukraine talks.

According to the Korean Central News Agency, Kim Jong Un thanked Putin for the recognition and pledged that the DPRK would “always remain faithful” and “fully support” all measures taken by Russia under the 2024 Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty. The pact has been a source of grave concern to Washington, Seoul, and NATO allies. The treaty binds the two nations in a military and strategic partnership.

“There are a lot of ifs still in the air, but the call suggests there’s a role for Russia, similar to the role South Korea played in 2018, in helping create an opening for US-DPRK relations,” said Jenny Town, the Director of the Korea programme at the Stimson Centre, Washington.

The call is significant at the precursor of the Alaska Summit, according to Russian media, for the first time, “beyond NATO’s orbit, presidents are meeting multilaterally to talk war and peace”.

This is the first time since his reelection as US President Donald Trump is going to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin. The image of Washington’s two of the greatest adversaries aligning might not be something Trump was expecting. This does significantly give Putin leverage in diplomatic talks about the ceasefire.