WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS: The US will not impose new limits on Ukraine‘s use of American weapons if North Korea enters the fight, the Pentagon said Monday, as Nato said North Korean military units had been deployed to Russia’s Kursk region. “The deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea is a threat to both Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic security,” Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte told reporters after talks with a South Korean delegation about the North Korean deployments.
The Pentagon estimated 10,000 North Korean troops had been deployed to eastern Russia for training, up from an estimate of 3,000 troops last Wednesday. “A portion of those soldiers have already moved closer to Ukraine, and we are increasingly concerned that Russia intends to use these soldiers in combat or to support combat operations against Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk Oblast near the border with Ukraine,” said Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh.
Ukrainian military intelligence said Thursday that the North Korean units had been recorded in the Kursk region. But the Pentagon declined to confirm it. Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said Kyiv had been warning about the deployment for weeks, and accused allies of failing to deliver a strong response. “The bottom line: listen to Ukraine. The solution: lift restrictions on our long-range strikes against Russia now,” he said on X.