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

State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller speaks during a press briefing at the Department of State in Washington on July 24, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

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.

Reports on Sunday said that President Joe Biden’s administration decided to allow Ukraine to use U.S. weapons to strike deep into Russian territory, with just about two months to go before Biden leaves office. The move represents a major shift in the administration’s policy on dealing with the conflict.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded in a statement to state-run media Tass that the move would mark an escalation in the more than two-year-long conflict.

“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.”

The decision by the Biden administration, however, sparked criticism from members of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team. His eldest son and transition team member, Donald Trump Jr., warned in a social media post that it will “get World War Three going” before Trump takes office on Jan. 20, 2025, blaming the so-called “military-industrial complex.”

“The American people gave a mandate on Nov 5th against these exact America last decisions and do NOT want to fund or fight foreign wars. We want to fix our own problems,” wrote one of Trump’s congressional allies, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), on X.

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.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave a muted response, saying that “strikes are not made with words. Such things are not announced. The missiles will speak for themselves.” Just days before, Zelenskky told a Ukrainian news outlet that he believes the war will end more quickly when Trump takes office.

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.”

Reuters contributed to this report.