Kim Jong Un arrives aboard his moving fortress train in Russia for arms talks with Putin – which he hopes will provide advanced satellite and nuclear technology – after a red carpet farewell in Pyongyang

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia today ahead of a meeting with President Vladimir Putin. The United States has warned that there could be an arms deal to support Moscow’s attack on Ukraine.

On a rare foreign trip and his first since the pandemic, Kim waved from the door of his heavily armored private train as it left Pyongyang on Sunday evening, according to images released by North Korean state media.

Kim will meet Putin later this week at an unspecified location in Russia’s Far East, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Putin is currently attending the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, the Far Eastern city closest to the North Korean border. However, there are no signs that the internationally isolated couple would hold their talks there.

Experts say Moscow will likely expect artillery shells and anti-tank missiles from North Korea, which is demanding advanced satellite and nuclear-powered submarine technology in return.

Kim Jong Un waved as he left Pyongyang by train for a visit to Russia on Sunday

Kim is understood to be accompanied by unspecified members of the country’s ruling party, government and military. Pictured: Kim Jong Un leaves Pyongyang, North Korea, on Sunday to visit Russia

Kim Jong Un was sent off with a red carpet from Pyongyang to Russia on Sunday

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia today ahead of a meeting with President Vladimir Putin (pictured together in 2019) at which the United States warned there could be an arms deal in support of Moscow’s attack on Ukraine

The White House warned last week that North Korea would “pay a price” if it supplies Russia with weapons for the conflict in Ukraine.

According to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim left North Korea on Sunday and traveled to Russia despite warnings.

He was accompanied by senior North Korean military officials, including officials in charge of weapons production and space technology, it said.

Peskov said the two leaders would cooperate “in sensitive areas that should not be the subject of public disclosures and announcements.”

KCNA images showed Kim received a “warm farewell” with a red carpet and guard of honor at the Pyongyang train station around 6:38 p.m. (0938 GMT).

On Tuesday, Russian state news agency Ria Novosti said Kim had crossed the border. Pictures showed the train with dark green wagons being pulled along a track by a Russian Railways locomotive.

Kim traveled to Russia with his senior military officials, including Korean People’s Army Marshal Pak Jong Chon and Ammunition Industry Department Director Jo Chun Ryong, analysts said.

This suggests that a Putin-Kim summit “will likely focus heavily on possible military cooperation between Russia and North Korea,” Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP.

Moscow sent Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to Pyongyang in July. He recently discussed bilateral joint naval exercises.

North Korea may have tens of millions of Soviet-style artillery shells and rockets that could potentially provide a huge boost to the Russian army, analysts say. Pictured: Ukrainian soldiers fire an M109 howitzer at Russian troops in the Donetsk region of Ukraine on Monday

A green train with yellow trim, resembling one used by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in his previous travels, is seen from an observation deck in Fangchuan, northeast China’s Jilin Province, on Monday

Kim has steadfastly supported Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and, according to Washington, also supplied rockets and rockets.

But both Moscow and Pyongyang have denied that North Korea has supplied or will supply weapons to Russia, which has depleted its vast ammunition stockpile in combat since it began its attack on Ukraine early last year.

Kim has not traveled outside North Korea since the coronavirus pandemic began. His last real trip abroad also took him to Russia in 2019 to meet Putin.

“North Korea has the crude munitions Putin needs for his illegal war in Ukraine, while Moscow has submarine, ballistic and satellite technologies that could help Pyongyang overcome the technical challenges it is suffering under economic sanctions said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

On Monday, the US described Putin as desperate to meet with Kim.

“The fact that he had to travel across his own country to meet with an international pariah and ask for help in a war that he wanted to win in the first month is what I would describe as a person begging for help,” Matthew said Miller, a State Department spokesman, said.

“I will remind both countries that any arms transfer from North Korea to Russia would be a violation of several United Nations Security Council resolutions,” he added.

Washington said Russia could use weapons from North Korea to attack Ukraine’s food supplies and heating infrastructure in the winter and “attempt to seize territory belonging to another sovereign nation.”

Andrei Lankov, a North Korea expert at Kookmin University in Seoul, told AFP that a Putin-Kim summit was part of Moscow’s “soft diplomatic blackmail” of Seoul because Russia did not want South Korea to supply weapons to Kiev.

Seoul is a major arms exporter and has sold tanks to Kiev’s ally Poland, but long-standing domestic policy prohibits it from selling weapons into active conflicts.

“The biggest concern of the Russian government at the moment is a possible shipment of South Korean ammunition to Ukraine, and not just one shipment, but many shipments,” Lankov said.