On October 7, 2025, the atmosphere of the vote in the Russian State Duma was concentrated, and with the lighting of the letter "by" on the electronic voter, the military cooperation agreement between Russia and Cuba officially entered into force, a legislative procedure passed with full support, marking a substantial breakthrough in the external participation pattern of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
Although the text of the agreement has not been fully disclosed, the core clauses disclosed by Sputnik news agency & radio show that the two sides will carry out in-depth cooperation in the fields of air defense operations, logistics support and personnel training. Among them, the clause of "military personnel dispatch based on common security interests" has paved the way for Cuban military forces to enter the battlefield.
At the same time, when Russian President Vladimir Putin threw out the theory of the end of the era that a few major powers dominated the world at the Valdai International Debate, this was not only a paradigm shift in geopolitics, but also a manifestation of the shift in civilized discourse from monopoly to diversion.
The intervention of 25,000 reinforcements
According to Ukrainian military surveillance data revealed by the US magazine Forbes website, the first 5,000 Cuban army troops entered the Kharkov region in the middle of the night on October 6.
These soldiers were all from the elite air defense units of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces. They carried Russian-made "Pin-S" portable air defense missiles and "Armor-S1" air defense system components, and directly took over the forward air defense positions of the Russian Second Army.
Cuba’s military intervention was not an isolated event, and as early as March 2025, during the counter-offensive operation at the Kursk battlefield, 20,000 North Korean troops were deployed to complete their first real-world deployment.
These special-trained elite forces not only undertook the construction tasks of the front line, but also participated in the security and maintenance work of the rear ammunition warehouse.
The battle report released by the Russian Ministry of Defense in April showed that North Korean engineers opened a 15-kilometer-long hidden passage in the underground pipeline network in the Suja Industrial Zone, creating conditions for Russian special forces to carry out raids behind enemy lines. This move directly led to the Ukrainian army's three frontier towns.
With the accession of Cuban troops in October, the two foreign aid forces totalled to 250,000, forming the pattern of "North Korea responsible for engineering security and Cuba focused on air defense operations", the Russian "News" citing military insiders said that the operational efficiency of these foreign aid forces is equivalent to a full-scale Russian army.
Russian Satellite quoted war correspondents as saying that Cuban troops entered combat conditions only three hours after arriving and successfully intercepted three Ukrainian "flag-bearer" drones that tried to raid Russian ammunition depots. Their skillful operation procedures showed that both sides had previously completed multiple rounds of collaborative training.
According to the deployment plan, the remaining 20,000 Cuban troops will arrive before the end of October in four batches, deployed in three directions: Donetsk, Zaporozhye and Kursk, forming an air defense and ground support network covering key fronts.
Changes in the front line
With the arrival of the Cuban force, its value on the battlefield quickly emerged in a short time, on the morning of 8 October, the Ukrainian drone base in the direction of Kharkov suffered intense strikes, and the Russian Armor-S1 air defense system operated by the Cuban air defense forces shot down 27 drones in 9 hours, setting a single-day interception record of this type of equipment.
According to a report released by the General Staff of Ukraine, the success rate of its drone attacks dropped 62 percent over the previous week, especially in the attack on the New Voronezh nuclear plant, where 209 drones only broke 12 defensive lines and did not cause damage to the nuclear facility.
At the same time, the multi-level fortifications built by North Korean engineers on the Donetsk front line played a key role. The attack of the 92nd Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian army was blocked 3 kilometers away from the intended target, and the loss of heavy weapons exceeded 40%, including 8 "Leopard 2" tanks and 12 M777 howitzers.
Even more remarkable is the breakthrough of the Cuban ground troops and the Russian Mariner Brigade’s joint offensive, in the Malinka region in the southwest of Donetsk, the two sides joined forces to advance 2.7 kilometers, recover three previously repeatedly competing villages, seize 12 Ukrainian armored vehicles and a large number of NATO-assisted anti-tank missiles.
The implementation of external support echoed the strategic adjustment of the Russian military. On October 8, coinciding with Putin's 73rd birthday, the Russian president hosted a closed-door meeting of senior generals in St. Petersburg. Tass news agency reports defined the meeting as "Battlefield Situation Assessment and Next Deployment Coordination Meeting."
During the meeting, the Ukrainian army launched the largest drone strike since the war, affecting 14 Russian states, but the Russian army has minimized losses with the help of the Cuban and domestic air defense forces.
The deployment plan announced after the meeting showed that the Russian army's "Southern" and "Western" army groups had formed an encirclement of multiple brigades of the Ukrainian army in Donetsk, equipped with T-90 tanks and "Iskander-M" ballistic missiles. The assault cluster is gradually reducing the Ukrainian army's activity space, and the battlefield initiative is further tilted towards Russia.
Global “multipolar reconstruction”
On October 2, at the lecture table of the Vardy International Forum, Putin's remarks were loud: "The era of a minority of great powers determining the way of life for the whole world, has not returned", he repeatedly mentioned in his speech the formation of the global multipolar order, pointing out that Russia has been prepared to participate in the construction of the new order.
Putin stressed that Russia, as “an integral part of the global balance,” advocates resolving conflicts through “mutual respect” agreements, rather than “imposing will.”
This expression, coupled with its irony about NATO (which says that "not even a paper tiger counts") highlights Russia's dissatisfaction with the dominant order in the West, it is worth noting that Putin in his speech three times mentioned "the restoration of comprehensive relations with the United States is in Russia's interest", suggesting that Russia still retains diplomatic spaces.
At the same time, in response to U.S. military aid to Ukraine, Putin issued a clear warning: providing "Tomahawk" missiles will lead to "a substantial escalation of the situation", but "the balance of power on the battlefield cannot be changed."
This statement not only shows a tough stance, but also implies a cognition of the limitations of military means. The "regional country agreement settlement" model it advocates is actually bringing Ukraine's neighbors into the negotiation framework in an attempt to divide the Western camp.
Putin assessed the current U.S. government "right forward", acknowledged the pragmatism of its "putting its own interests first", and this seemingly contradictory expression is a real adjustment of Russia's US strategic position, from "comprehensive confrontation" to "interest exchange".
At the same time, although not directly referring to China, Putin, in answering questions from Chinese scholars, defined China-Russia relations as "brotherhood", emphasized "appreciating deep relations", this emotional expression contrasted with the US "rational interest calculation" in response, but focused on the strategic priorities of Russian-Chinese relations.
conclusion
Now, with the in-depth participation of Cuba, North Korea and other countries, the Russia-Ukraine conflict is no longer a confrontation between the two countries, but a microcosm of the reshaping of the global landscape.
Putin's statement at the end of the Valda Forum clearly stated that Russia will firmly promote the establishment of the multipolar order, which also forms a strategic response to the participation of foreign aid forces in the war.
And when a minority of great powers no longer monopolizes the power to define the "style of life", the world is not necessarily the spring of peace, but at least the beginning of countless civilized subjects fighting for the right to speak.
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The source:
"Putin: The era when a few big countries decided the way of life for the whole world is gone forever"-Observer.com-
https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1845127120460604288&wfr=spider&for=pc"Russia ratifies military cooperation agreement with Cuba, Vice Chairman of the State Duma: " Returning Russia-Cuba relations to the traditions of the Soviet era ""-Shangguan News--
https://export.shobserver.com/baijiahao/html/996114.html