GLOBAL – Vladimir Putin offered to send advanced weapons to bolster his allies around the world, after he pledged to boost relations with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The Russian president boasted about the Kremlin’s arsenal at his country’s annual arms expo, which traditionally attracts delegations from around the world.
However, Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine turned this year’s conference into a much lower-key event. His claims about sending high-tech weapons abroad came despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine leading to major shortages and production issues for high-precision arms.
He said Russia could offer new models and systems. “We are talking about high-precision weapons and robotics, about combat systems based on new physical principles. Many of them are years, or maybe decades ahead of their foreign counterparts, and in terms of tactical and technical characteristics they are significantly superior to them,” he said.
Mr Putin and Kim pledged to boost ties, fueling speculation that Pyongyang might offer Russia weapons that it has been stockpiling for decades.
Mr Putin in his speech at the arms expo sought to dispel suggestions about Russia’s increasing international isolation, lauding Russia’s allies in Latin America, Asia and Africa and offering to share with them Russia’s cutting-edge weapons and technology.
He stated that “[We] are ready to offer our allies the most modern types of weapons, from small arms to armored vehicles and artillery to combat aviation and unnamed aerial vehicles, almost all of them have been used more than once in real combat operations.”
Ukrainian and Russian-installed officials reported shelling near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine, with both sides blaming each other days after the world nuclear watchdog warned of disaster if the fighting does not stop.
Russia and Ukraine have traded accusations this month of shelling near the plant, which dominates the south bank of a vast reservoir on the Dnipro River, amid fears of a nuclear catastrophe.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned Russian soldiers who attack Europe’s largest nuclear power station or use it as a base to shoot from that they will become a “special target”.
The plant is in the now Russian-controlled city of Enerhodar. Yevhen Yevtushenko, head of the administration of the Nikopol district, which lies across the river from Enerhodar, accused Russian forces of shelling the city.
Vladimir Rogov, a Russia-installed official in Enerhodar, said that over the past two hours about 25 artillery strikes from US-made M777 howitzers had hit near the nuclear plant and residential areas.
Russia’s Interfax news agency, quoting the press service of Enerhodar’s Russian-appointed administration, said Ukrainian forces opened fire.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is seeking access to the plant, has warned of possible disaster. Nuclear experts fear fighting might damage the plant’s spent fuel pools or reactors.
“The Russians think they can force the world to comply with their conditions by shelling the Zaporizhzhia NPP (nuclear power plant),” Andriy Yermak, chief of the Ukrainian presidential staff, wrote on Twitter. “This will not happen. Instead, our military will punish them by hard hitting with precision on pain points.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for the establishment of a demilitarised zone around Zaporizhzhia. The UN has the logistics and security capacity to support an IAEA visit if both Russia and Ukraine agree.
Meanwhile, Ukraine used US-supplied Himars to destroy the military headquarters of Russian private military contractor, Wagner, after a Russian state TV reporter seemed to have given away its location by posting photos online.
A Ukrainian official confirmed Russian media reports that the base in Popasna in eastern Ukraine was targeted by a Ukrainian missile strike, with some estimating that as many as 100 fighters were killed.
