North Korea and Russia have begun building the first road bridge linking them across their river border, both governments said on Thursday as they expand bilateral ties following the deployment of North Korean troops and weapons to help Russia’s war against Ukraine.

       The two countries held a simultaneous groundbreaking ceremony for the two-lane bridge on their respective sides of the border on Wednesday, according to their state media. They currently have a cross-border railway link.

       “This is a big milestone for Russian-Korean relations,” Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin of Russia said when he talked with his North Korean counterpart, Pak Thae-song, through a video link on Wednesday, according to the Russian news agency Tass.

       Mr. Pak said that the new bridge would mark “a historic monument” to the efforts by North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to deepen bilateral relations, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said.

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       The new bridge will be a little over a half-mile long, and its construction is expected to take 18 months, according to Russian state media. When the bridge is completed, it will help expand passenger and commercial traffic, as well as tourism, the North’s state media said. Russia’s Transport Ministry said the 10-lane border crossing facility to be built to service the new bridge would have the capacity to process 300 vehicles and 2,850 people per day.

       North Korea and Russia, whose relations had cooled in the post-Cold War decades, have reinvigorated their ties since 2023, when North Korea began supplying Russia with artillery shells, ballistic missiles and other conventional weapons to help aid its war against Ukraine.

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