US State Department Says Russia Escalated Ukraine War by Deploying North Koreans

A U.S. official said on Monday that Russia is escalating the conflict in Ukraine by sending North Korean troops after Moscow warned that Washington is getting more involved in the war by allowing Kyiv to strike into Russia with U.S.-produced weapons.
“If such a decision has indeed been formulated and communicated to the Kiev regime, then, of course, this is a qualitatively new round of escalation of tensions and a qualitatively new situation in terms of the involvement of the United States in this conflict,” Peskov said.
But State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters at a briefing on Monday that “it has been Russia that has escalated the conflict time and time again,” as he pointed to the hundreds of North Korean troops that are fighting in Russia’s Kursk region, months after Ukraine invaded the border area.
“That is a major escalation by Russia bringing in an Asian military to a conflict inside Europe,” Miller said, adding that the United States will respond in a firm manner.
“We will continue to do what is appropriate to hold Russia accountable for its actions, including its escalatory actions, and to hold [North] Korea accountable for its escalatory actions.”
On the campaign trail, Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance have repeatedly said they want to end the war in Ukraine, while Vance, in particular, has said he wants the United States to stop arming the Kyiv government.
Neither Trump nor Vance has commented on the reports. Russian President Vladimir Putin also has not publicly responded to the development.
Military analysts say the impact on the battlefield, where Ukraine has been on the back foot for months, would depend on what limits remained. While the shift may shore up the Kursk operation, it was unlikely to be an overall game-changer, analysts say.
“The decision comes late, and like other decisions in this vein, it may be too late to substantially change the course of the fighting,” said Michael Kofman, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. “Long-range strikes were always one piece of the puzzle and had been overly freighted with expectations in this war.”