WORLD BRIEFING: September 13, 2023
Today marks 567 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks on September 13 with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who offered his country's "full and unconditional support" to defend what he said was Russia's security interests, in an apparent reference to Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Kim also called North Korea's relations with Russia "the first priority," after talks at a remote Siberian rocket-launch facility. Washington has expressed concern that Putin would use the meeting to press Kim on weapons shipments to resupply dwindling Russian stockpiles. The two leaders are aligning in the face of their countries' separate, intensifying confrontations with the West. The meeting came hours after North Korea fired two ballistic missiles toward the sea, South Korean officials reported - RFE/RL
More than 5,300 people have died after floods in the Libyan city of Derna, a local minister says. "The sea is constantly dumping dozens of bodies," Hisham Chkiouat adds. The floods burst two dams in the eastern coastal city and swept away homes. Streets are covered in mud and rubble and are littered with upturned vehicles. "They say it's like doomsday," says one Libyan journalist. "The water took the ground beneath them.” Libya is divided between two rival governments, with one operating from Tripoli and another one in the east - BBC
China on Tuesday unveiled a plan to deepen integration between the coastal province of Fujian and self-governing Taiwan, touting the benefits of closer cross-strait cooperation while sending warships around the island in a show of military might. The directive, issued jointly by the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee and the State Council, vows to make Fujian a “demonstration zone” for integrated development with Taiwan, and the “first home” for Taiwanese residents and businesses to settle in China. The document, hailed as a “blueprint” of Taiwan’s future development by Chinese experts cited in state media, comes at a delicate moment in cross-strait relations as Taiwan gears up for its presidential election in January - CNN
Explosions and subsequent fires were reported at a shipbuilding marine plant in occupied Sevastopol, a major naval city in Russian-occupied Crimea, around 3 a.m. on Sept. 13. Around 24 were reported injured by Mikhail Razvozhaev, the head of the illegal Russian occupation government of Sevastopol. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s forces carried out a successful strike against a base of Russian operators of Zala and Lancet drones, the military’s Strategic Communications Directorate reported - Kyiv Independent
Ukrainian port infrastructure in Izmayil was also damaged on September 13 in another Russian drone attack, said Oleh Kiper, the governor of the Odesa region. "Unfortunately, there were hits. Damage to port and other civilian infrastructure was reported," Kiper wrote on Telegram, adding that six people had been injured, three of them seriously. The Ukrainian Air Force later said it intercepted 32 of 44 Shahed-type drones over Ukraine overnight, with most of them launched toward the southern parts of the Odesa region - RFE/RL
The UN says the attack on Izmail was the 21st on port infrastructure since Russia unilaterally withdrew from the Black Sea grain deal