North Korea Recognizes Breakaway of Russia’s Proxies in East Ukraine

A view shows the embassy of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) in Moscow, Russia July 12, 2022. Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters

North Korea on Wednesday recognized two Russian-backed breakaway s0-called “people’s republics” in eastern Ukraine as independent states, a separatist leader and a Russian state news agency said.

The move makes North Korea only the third country after Russia and Syria to recognize the two breakaway entities, the Donetsk (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republics (LPR), in Ukraine’s Donbas region.