By Ivor Bennett, Moscow correspondent
It’s not the images from Vladimir Putin’s meeting with Kim Jong Un that will worry Ukraine and its allies, but the words.
After thanking the North Korean leader for his help expelling Ukrainian forces from Russia’s Kursk region earlier this year, Kim replied by pledging his full support to Moscow, and promised to do “everything I can to assist”.
It is an ominous warning and further proof that for Moscow, this is a friendship with deepening strategic benefits.
Kim’s saying that he’s supplied troops before, and is more than happy to do so again.
So if there was any hope Ukraine and Europe had that Russia might run out of manpower soon, it’s probably just been extinguished.
That’ll be one source of concern – the other will be Xi Jinping’s apparent unconditional endorsement of Putin.
China says it’s neutral when it comes to Ukraine, but it didn’t look like it here.
Xi sat the Russian president at his right-hand side for the parade, and gave him star billing.
This is a man who’s been waging war on his neighbour for the last three and a half years, and was even doing so while the parade was going on.
As Xi was talking about the importance of peace, Russian forces were carrying out another sweeping aerial attack on Ukraine.
It shows how emboldened the Kremlin leader is by the events of the past few days.
He has the economic backing from China and India.
He has more military support, if he needs it, from North Korea.
And his message to Ukraine, to Europe and to Donald Trump is that Russia can carry on for as long as it takes, until it gets what it wants.
