FACING a string of crises at home and a stalemate on the front line, Vladimir Putin is scrambling his allies to sustain his war machine in Ukraine.
As China and North Korea bolster the Russian despot’s forces with deadly military arsenal through secret supply lines, experts warn the “Axis of Evil” is closing in on the West.
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Earlier this week Putin secured the first road bridge linking Russia to North Korea.
Pyongyang’s communist leader Kim Jong-un has long-supplied Putin with weapons, ammunition, troops, and military technology for his bloodthirsty war.
But the new crossing indicates the two war-hungry allies are “expecting more traffic”, Russian military expert Keir Giles told The Sun.
Moscow insists the two-lane bridge, capable of handling 300 vehicles a day, will promote trade, tourism and cultural links.
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Until now, the two countries only direct connection across their 11-mile land frontier was the Soviet-era Friendship Bridge rail crossing.
The land border over the Tumen River removes a logistics bottleneck, allowing lorries to transport deadly military equipment into Russia without relying on rail or sea routes.
And it suggests North Korea “has more to give to Russia in the fight”, Keir said.
Since 2023, Pyongyang has ferried more than seven million artillery and mortar rounds, 100 ballistic missiles and hundreds of artillery systems into Russia, according to Ukraine’s military intelligence.
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Tyrant Kim has deployed tens of thousands of troops to support Putin’s forces.
John Foreman CBE, Britain’s former defence attaché to Moscow, told The Sun: “Without support from China and North Korea, Russia would have struggled even more in the war than it has over the last four years.”
Putin is facing mounting pressure at home to declare victory soon in Ukraine amid mounting losses on the battlefield and at home.
Since Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has sustained 1.4 million casualties.
Meanwhile, Kyiv has spent the summer blitzing oil depots with state-of-the-art drones, before shifting its crosshairs to a series of strikes that have crippled Russia’s largest e-commerce platform.
The attacks have tanked Russia’s already reeling economy – wiping out businesses, suffocating trade and sparking nationwide fuel shortages.
Now swarms of Russians are scrambling to withdraw cash amid fears Putin may seize deposits to fuel his stalling war machine.
To relieve this pressure, Putin is reportedly planning to unleash Russia’s deadliest winter blitz in a bid to capture the rest of the Donbas after elections this month.
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Keir said: “A key part of that is the components Russia is receiving from China.”
A bombshell investigation revealed that China secretly supplied Moscow with components to build hundreds of killer Kamikaze drones.
A shipment of 46 tonnes of carbon-fibre chemicals was sent from a Chinese state-owned company to Russia earlier this year, according to a report in The Telegraph.
The parts were sent to a firm linked to Russia’s largest energy producer, which builds Geran drones.
It shows for the first time how a Chinese government firm exported crucial drone making equipment directly to Russia.
Geran drones – a new rapid jet-powered model – are causing havoc among Kyiv’s overstretched air defences.
Russia fired upgraded Geran drones against Ukraine every day throughout August.
Capable of cruising at more than 300mph, the munitions travel well beyond the top speed of Kyiv’s interceptors.
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The new drones pose a challenge to Ukraine’s previously effective and low-cost anti-drone defense shield.
Since the start of the invasion in 2022, China’s economic support has served as a critical lifeline for Russia.
Beijing has blunted the impact of Western sanctions aimed at starving Russia’s military industries of key components.
“In essence, we have built a stable system of mutual trade that is protected from external influence,” Putin said in May.
And during a meeting in late August, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Putin that ties between the two nations are set to strengthen.
Despite the growing relationship between the three states, experts warn the alliance exposes Putin’s key weakness.
Foreman said: “It is a short term gain for resilience to keep fighting the war and a long term weakness.
“Russia seeks strategic independence but the war has driven it to depend increasingly on China, North Korea and a web of other nations to overcome sanctions. It can’t control these relationships.”
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Foreman also fears the new Tumen crossing could allow Russia to send sensitive military, drone or nuclear technology to North Korea.
He said: “I’m most concerned about tech that strengthens North Korea’s nuclear and conventional capabilities.
“Tech related to advanced ballistic and cruise missiles, missile guidance, satellite reconnaissance, submarine stealth, and improvement to nuclear warheads.”
Earlier this year a top nuclear watchdog warned that North Korea is making “very serious advances” to produce nuclear weapons.
Receiving this technology from Russia would present a “serious security risk” in the region, John said.
It comes as Western intelligence officials fear the Kremlin is ramping up sabotage operations in Europe and preparing for a conflict with NATO.
Moscow is accused of setting fires, attacking water facilities and power stations, and launching drones into European airspace.
Most recently, Germany blamed Russia for an attempted drone attack on its Leipzig Airport in August.
Last month CIA boss John Ratcliffe allegedly visited Moscow to warn Russia against an attack on an allied state.
Keir said: “The coalition that is backing Russia is working directly against the security of Europe by facilitating its invasion.
“We’ve already seen the way in which Russia is willing to escalate beyond Ukraine. All of them are complicit in those offensives.”
The Ukraine war is a “symptom” rather than a cause of the ‘Axis of Evil’s’ growing ties, Keir said.
He added: “It’s the front line of the broader conflict.
“Each of the countries joining together in this coalition against the West has its own vision of what it wants to achieve for its own national objectives.
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“They could be incompatible. But there’s a lowest common denominator to them – to challenge the West.
“That could be through conflicts with their immediate neighbours or challenging the rules-based international order overall.”