Two border and supply claims that framed early November 2022
A look back at two announcements from 2 November 2022 that concerned Russia's war and Europe's eastern frontier.
What did the claims made on 2 November 2022 say about the reach of Russia's war? Looking back at 3 November 2022, two announcements from the previous day stood out, one about weapons supply and one about border security.
The United States said that North Korea was secretly supplying artillery shells to Russia for use in the war in Ukraine. The claim pointed to Moscow drawing on outside sources for munitions, and it brought North Korea into the picture of Russia's war effort.
On the same day, Poland's Minister of National Defence, Mariusz Błaszczak, announced the construction of a barrier along Poland's border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. Poland believed that Russia would use the border to transport African and Asian immigrants illegally into Europe.
The two announcements addressed different problems. One concerned the material supply of the war itself. The other concerned Poland's expectations about how Russia might use its frontier. Both showed governments publicly setting out concerns about Russian conduct, and Warsaw backed its concern with a concrete decision to build a barrier.
