andrea mitchell picks up coverage right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," a landmark deal between russia and north korea. what that could mean for vladimir putin's illegal war in ukraine. kim jong-un's illegal nuclear program. the threat they pose to the rest of the world. donald trump doing damage control in wisconsin, insisting he loves milwaukee and never actually called it a horrible city. are voters going to boy that? israel claiming it's punishing offensive in rafah is coming to an end. that doesn't mean an end to the war in gaza. no progress on negotiations to release the remaining hostages. the american parents of one of the young men kidnapped on october 7th will join me today. ♪♪ good day, everyone. happy juneteenth. we start with that historic partnership between russia and north korea, a bold show of anti-western defiance that's rattling the u.s. and its allies worldwide. this was the scene earlier today. russian president vladimir putin giving the red carpet treatment during his first trip to north korea in more than two decades. he was greeted by kim jong-un. the moment marked with a lavish ceremony in pyongyang's main square. putin and kim getting into a new armored limousine for the north korean leader. a gift from his russian guest. later, the two men signing a comprehensive strategic pact, with each vowing to come to the other's aid in case of a military attack. it paves the way for pyongyang to send over ammunitions for russia's war against ukraine. they are worried moscow will reciprocate by providing north korea with military technology it can use to expand its illegal nuclear program. janis mackey frayer is in beijing, peter baker, an msnbc political annalyst, victor chaw he is an msnbc contributor. janis, what do we know about the details of the agreement, the summit, why now? and its historic impact. >> reporter: we did see vladimir putin get the red carpet welcome here with kim jong-un waiting for him in the middle of the night. from the moment he arrived, the two didn't leave each other's side. optics very important here as they were walking around past soldiers, past schoolchildren, past horses, giving this show of unity. after two hours of talks, emerging with this agreement, signing a strategic defense treaty, promising each other mutual assistance against aggression in case each other's country comes under some sort of aggression. what we are seeing here is this sense that they are emerging from this stronger partners, which, of course, will be troubling for the u.s. and the rest of the west. >> peter, this is more than symbolism. does this change the outlook in ukraine? it has actually, because russia would have been on its back heels without all the help from china. but north korea, critical munitions. >> absolutely. thousands of shipping containers. it's a remarkable thing to see a country like russia, one-time global superpower, now trying to reassert itself, depending on north korea of all places. a broken economy, a hermit kingdom as it is often called to supply it with weapons it needs. it talks about how the global order is changing. the alignment between russia and china, russia and north korea and russia and iran has upended the traditional diplomacy that we saw in past years. it wasn't that long ago -- andrea, you and i covered it -- there were six party talks to get north korea to back off and russia and china were part of that. now putin with his visit today and the document they signed is saying, no more. i'm on north korea's side. i'm not ever signing up with the west again. >> china used to help the u.s. in pressuring north korea to demilitarize. in 2000, then secretary of state madeleine albright, i was in pyongyang with kim's father as the leader, and they were talking about a peace agreement that bill clinton says regretfully he would have signed if not for the -- actually, peter, if not for the election, the bush/gore dispute, dent want to leave the country with know one knowing who was president. it brings me to victor. you know so well that it was when george w. bush took over that in the spring of 2001, to the surprise of powell, the secretary of state, they decided not to go forward with that peace agreement that had been basically almost initialled in the october previous by the clinton administration. >> yeah. as peter said, during those six party talks that you covered and others, i was in the government at the time, and russia had signed on to not one but 11 u.n. security council resolutions against north korea, sanctioning them for their proliferation behavior. this new agreement on security that janis mentioned that was just signed between the two sides is really a renewal, i think, of the cold war agreements that were reached between the two that for a period were nullified when south korea normalized relations with the soviet union in 1990. that's gone now. russia is clearly on north korea's side. i think this is for the long-term. >> let me ask you, what technology do you think that north korea is getting from russia? this is a two-way street. the military aid, surplus weapons that are compatible with the soviet-era weapons they are using against ukraine, the artillery, other munitions they need, but they are now getting very important help to expand the nuclear missile program. do you know in what way? what have you learned? >> i think that's right. the white house has been a bit modest in terms of what they think the russians are providing, maybe surface to air missiles, some other things. i'm worried kim jong-un will drive a hard bargain because he knows putin needs the ammunition. will be asking for things like nuclear submarine technology, advanced telemetry, as well as technology for his intercontinental ballistic missiles. there's a long wish kim has. putin may not have a choice but to give those things to him. >> this summit, peter, looks like an obvious response to the partnership that president biden and zelenskyy signed last week. we just don't know about the concrete commitment of aid. it seems as though north korea and china are bailing putin out on ukraine. >> yeah. you heard the president talk about that during the g7 in italy. he talked about how china has been helping russia, trying to refuse to go to that peace summit that president zelenskyy of ukraine sponsored in switzerland. absolutely, the alignment here of these four countries really, the united states -- russia, china, north korea, and iran is really creating a whole new dynamic for american western diplomacy. the united states has worked hard to keep china from going all in with russia in the sense they think they have not provided some of the same weaponry they are getting from north korea and iran. we don't know where that will end up. china has made this very clear that in this conflict right now, it sides with russia. of course, that is putting russia into china's pocket to some extent. it's remarkable vladimir putin, who wants to reassert russian power on the world stage, in effect is making himself a vasal state to his neighbor in china. that's another long-term change in our world dynamics. >> peter, the threat from north korea with the u.s. so focused on events in europe, ukraine obviously, and the war in gaza, is the administration doing enough, paying enough attention to the way kim jong-un is expanding his nuclear and missile program and potentially submarines? >> that's a good question. victor may know better than i would. you are right to say that there's been so much tension on the middle east and europe that you have to wonder whether or not actors like kim jong-un would try to take advantage of that. he time and time again, he and his father would act out in effect when they felt like there were moments to get attention or to provoke. we haven't seen that lately, except for this summit. it pay be their way of doing that. you are right, you always have to keep an eye on north korea. you never know where they are going to come out. >> victor, what about an october surprise or some expansion of the missile technology from the north? >> i think it's very likely. north korea in general does a lot more missile demonstrations than provocations in u.s. election years. they are on pace to set a new record in terms of the amount of demonstrations they have done. they set the record last year as peter said. the administration has been preoccupied with the two wars. there is -- the u.s. government is big. i used to work in it. but there's limited bandwidth when you are dealing two wars. north korea has been able to fly under the radar. hopefully, this summit will be a wake-up call for the administration, put policy into action to disrupt this russia and north korea tie. >> janis mackey frayer, peter baker, victor cha, thanks to all of you. we will discuss the implications of this visit with the u.s. ambassador to nato. plus, we are celebrating juneteenth. three years after president biden made this a federal holiday to honor the date that hundreds of thousands of of enslaved people across were told they were free. many did not learn it for quite some time. we will talk about that. we will go live to chicago and a black history museum and education center where a celebration is underway right now. why that museum's ceo says facts and history today are more important than ever. stay close. a lot more coming up in 90 seconds. this is "andrea mitchell reports." we'll be right back. ndrea mitchl reports. we'll be right back. or crohn's disease... put it in check with rinvoq... a once-daily pill. when symptoms tried to take control, i got rapid relief and reduced fatigue with rinvoq. check! when flares kept trying to slow me down i got lasting steroid-free remission with rinvoq. check! and when my doctor saw damage, rinvoq helped visibly reduce damage of the intestinal lining. check! for both uc and crohn's: rapid symptom relief lasting steroid-free remission. and visibly reduced damage. check. check. and check! rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal, cancers, including lymphoma and skin, heart attack, stroke, and gi tears occurred. people 50 and older with a heart disease risk factor have an increased risk of death. serious allergic reactions can occur. tell your doctor if you are or may become pregnant. put uc and crohn's in check ...and keep them there with rinvoq. ask your gastroenterologist about rinvoq and learn how abbvie can help you save. you know what's brilliant? boring. think about it. boring is the unsung catalyst for bold. what straps bold to a rocket and hurtles it into space? boring does. boring makes vacations happen, early retirements possible, and startups start up. because it's smart, dependable, and steady. all words you want from your bank. for nearly 160 years, pnc bank has been brilliantly boring so you can be happily fulfilled... which is pretty un-boring if you think about it. a lot more now on the new pact between putin and kim jong-un. the rare visit coming as he is looking for more weapons with his war with ukraine. kim jong-un is getting valuable technology for his illegal missile program. joining us now is ambassador julanne smith. it's good to see you on set. we usually see each other in brussels or nato meetings somewhere else. ambassador smith, this new pact means certainly more ammunition, more artillery at the very least against ukraine. can ukraine hold its own? it's getting the american deliveries. there was the terrible delay because of the congressional stalemate. it lost ground. all the setbacks, kharkiv under fire and at risk. can they now hold the line and stop the russian advances? >> well, you are right, we did have unfortunately a delay of several months while congress was trying to sort out and finalize the supplemental. fortunately, our friends in europe kept the assistance flowing. they deserve credit for that. now we're at a point where what's been promised is actually arriving on the battlefield. our assessment is that the ukrainians have put to use everything that we have been able to flow into ukraine these last few weeks. they have stabilized the lines around kharkiv, which is good news. at the end of the day, the russians weren't able to move that far into ukraine. we are talking single digits in terms of kilometers. we feel better that they now have the assistance they need. everything we're doing is paired with what over 49 other countries are doing to provide important security assistance. >> nato is stronger than ever. certainly with sweden and finland joining and more money, more nato countries coming up to the 2% standard. you are also facing sharp criticism from the republican candidate. i know you don't get into politics. the facts here. he is saying europe isn't doing its part, still not pulling its weight. europe contributed $50 billion when our supplemental was still at risk. now there's another 50 billion that the g7 has agreed is going to come from interest on the russian assets that are held largely in belgium, not in the u.s. >> that's right. we had breaking news this week. you will remember ten years ago, all nato allies pledged to spend 2% of their gdp on defense. when we made that pledge ten years ago, we had three countries at the 2% mark. the secretary-general of nato is in town and sat with president biden and announced now 23 members of the alliance spend 2%. that's a huge leap. it needs to be all 32 allies. we will keep pushing. the fact that we have two-thirds of the alliance now spending 2% is a major, major milestone. you are right to note that burden sharing isn't just about that 2% target. burden sharing is about doing more for ukraine. there we have just had breaking news. the germans are offering another patriot. the czechs have secured another 500,000 rounds of munitions for our friends in ukraine. many other countries are stepping forward. great to have the u.s. supplemental. but let's not forget that the europeans are doing their fair share as well. >> the patriots are in such short supply that part of the job of our pentagon has been to go around to the allies and find out who can deliver a patriot while we try to produce more. they are in short supply. there's a dispute between us and president zelenskyy, between the u.s. and zelenskyy over the ability to fire back across the border into russia. they have a limited ability around kharkiv now to those russian encampments where they are firing against kharkiv, or had been. zelenskyy wants more. the administration is concerned about escalating the war. isn't the war so escalating, according to putin, that -- is ukraine right that they need the ability to fire back when fired upon? >> look, since this war started, we have been sitting down with ukrainian military commanders and president zelenskyy on a regular basis to understand, what are their immediate needs? every month, secretary austin convenes the udgc where we can hear from them what equipment do you need, what do you want to talk about in terms of current strategy, do you want to talk through your plans for the coming weeks, the coming months? as we do that, we are listening to them. we heard them in early may when they said, we want to go after the places on the other side of the border from which they are targeting kharkiv. the u.s. responded. the president made the decision to have a shift in our approach. we heard them and responded in real time. as we go forward, we will continue to hear from them and determine what exactly they want to do, what they need from the united states and all the other countries. i think right now, you have heard the president, his position on the long-range atacms. it's pretty clear. we are not in a position where we encourage them to use those to strike into russia. we believe those can be used very effectively in places like crimea, which is ukrainian territory, of course. but let's see. you have heard secretary blinken say time and time again, we are assessing, we are adapting the policy. ultimately, this is ukraine's war to fight. they will make a determination on the battlefield how to use the assistance they have received. >> what is the hope of getting some of the thousands of children who have been kidnapped, taken across the border, put through, quote, reeducation, put up for adoption and taken from the ukrainian parents? >> there's so much about this war that just is so hard to process. it's such a great tragedy the way in which russia is conducting itself on the battlefield. you are right, the way in which they have abducted thousands of ukrainian children and are now working to put those children in russian homes is obviously a violation of international law. it's a tragedy on a scale that we can hardly comprehend. we collectively, working with our friends in europe, working with the ukrainians, we have to call out this behavior. we have to make sure that every country that's partnering with russia right now, like north korea, like the prc, like iran, understands what russia is actually doing on the battlefield and work day in and day out to get those kids back into the homes that they belong in as soon as possible. >> our ambassador to nato, julianne smith, as it an honor to have you here. >> great to see you. >> thank you for coming in. >> hope to see you at the summit. >> indeed, at the summit. nato's summit, 75th anniversary being celebrated in washington. all of the leaders gathering here in july. >> that's right. coming in three weeks. former president trump trying to assure milwaukee voters that he loves the city, despite reports he wasn't going to stay there for the upcoming convention. the republican national convention. what he said in a new interview, that's next. stay with us. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. t—mobile's 5g network connects a hundred thousand delta employees so they can make every customer feel like they've arrived before they've left the ground. this is how business goes further with t—mobile for business. - so this is pickleball? 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