A fire broke out at an oil refinery after a nighttime drone attack in Azov, in the Rostov region housing the military headquarters of the Russian operation in Ukraine, local authorities said on Tuesday.
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More than two years of war in Ukraine
FIRE
A fire broke out at an oil refinery after a nighttime drone attack in Azov, in the Rostov region housing the military headquarters of the Russian operation in Ukraine, local authorities said on Tuesday.
“Oil tanks caught fire in Azov following a drone attack,” Vasily Golubev, the governor of the Rostov region (southern Russia), wrote on Telegram.
“According to initial information, there are no victims,” he stressed.
At 04:00 GMT, 208 firefighters, 39 vehicles and a fire train transporting various equipment
PUTIN ARDENTLY SUPPORTS NORTH KOREA
Russian President Vladimir Putin assured North Korea on Tuesday of his country’s “unwavering support” against the “cunning, dangerous and aggressive enemy”, a few hours before his arrival in Pyongyang for an exceptional visit, preceded by incidents at the inter-Korean border.
Putin is due to make a state visit to North Korea this Tuesday and Wednesday, after which a strategic partnership agreement could be signed between these two countries whose alliance the West perceives as a threat.
“Russia supported (North Korea) and its heroic people in their struggle to defend their right to choose the path of independence, originality and development for themselves in the confrontation with the cunning enemy , dangerous and aggressive, yesterday and tomorrow as well, and it will unwaveringly support them in the future,” Putin wrote in an article published by the official North Korean daily Rodong Sinmun and the KCNA agency.
Vladimir Putin will be in North Korea on Tuesday and Wednesday, an exceptional visit at the end of which a strategic partnership agreement could be signed between these two countries.
Vladimir Putin’s diplomatic adviser, Yuri Ushakov, presented Mr. Putin’s trip as a strong moment for the two countries which are under Western sanctions. “Important, very significant documents” will be signed, he told Russian media, referring to “the possible conclusion of a global strategic partnership agreement”.
“This treaty, if signed, will of course be conditioned by the profound evolution of the geopolitical situation in the world and in the region and by the qualitative changes which have recently taken place in our bilateral relations”, he noted. According to him, Mr. Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will also “statements to the press” and the Russian president will attend a concert given in his honor.
Americans and Europeans have been worried for months about the accelerated rapprochement between Moscow and Pyongyang, accusing the North Koreans of delivering munitions to Russia for its assault on Ukraine in exchange for technological, diplomatic and food assistance.
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This visit “shows how dependent President Putin and Moscow are now on authoritarian countries around the world. Their closest friends and biggest supporters of Russia’s war effort – the war of aggression – are North Korea, Iran and ChinaNATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg commented Monday from Washington, stressing that Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, now “violates sanctions” imposed on North Korea.
