Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his condolences to his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-un over the devastating floods that have killed countless people and damaged thousands of homes, the Kremlin said on Saturday.

The North, in turn, said on Sunday that Putin had also offered “immediate humanitarian support” to aid reconstruction, to which Kim responded that he could “deeply feel the special emotion for a true friend.”

Pyongyang reported this week that it had experienced record rainfall on July 27, killing an unknown number of people, flooding homes and inundating large swaths of farmland in the north, near China.

“I ask you to convey words of condolences and support to all who lost their loved ones as a result of the storm,” Putin said in a telegram to Kim.