This month brought three signs that deterrence — the idea that attacking a country will cost more than it's worth — is weakening.
President Trump ordered the Pentagon to reduce planned joint military exercises with South Korea, an ally the US has long worked with to deter North Korea.
In one week, four governments used the word "deterrence" for four unrelated plans: a Saudi Arabia-Pakistan-Turkey defense pact backed by Pakistan's nuclear weapons, a NATO drone-and-sensor network in the Baltic states, European weapons-repair lines set up inside Ukraine as a model for future conflicts, and a North Korean threat of stronger nuclear measures against US-South Korea military drills.
Russia fired ballistic missiles supplied by North Korea at the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing at least six people and wounding 19, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
On August 7, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed a pact in Mecca promising to defend each other if attacked, similar to NATO's rule that an attack on one member is an attack on all.
Ukraine's president says Moscow and Pyongyang have agreed to raise North Korea's troop presence in Russia to between 30,000 and 50,000 — a scale that would make it Russia's largest foreign troop contribution and give Pyongyang combat experience with implications far beyond Europe.
Ukraine's government told Reuters that a North Korean missile unit has arrived inside Russia to help fight the war, going beyond the troops and supplies North Korea has already sent.
Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia is preparing to send 30,000 more North Korean soldiers to fight in Ukraine, or has formally asked North Korea to supply them.