When Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with President Joe Biden, on Sept. 21, 2023, the topic of weapons supply was on the agenda. That same issue almost certainly came up between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un when the pair met earlier in September.
The fact is, with the conflict in Ukraine having now dragged on for more than a year and a half, both sides are increasingly desperate to keep the flow of arms going. And that has alarmed people like Izumi Nakamitsu, the United Nations’ high representative for disarmament affairs, who on Sept. 12 warned of violations of international resolutions against the illegal transfer of weapons and the risk of proliferation even after the war ends.
