No new limits on Ukraine's use of US arms if North Korea joins fight, Pentagon says

WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The United States will not impose new limits on Ukraine's use of American weapons if North Korea enters the fight, the Pentagon said on Monday, as NATO said North Korean military units had been deployed to Russia's Kursk region.

The North Korea deployment is fanning Western concerns that the 2-1/2-year conflict in Ukraine could widen, even as attention shifts to the Middle East.

It could be a sign of how Russia hopes to offset mounting battlefield losses and continue making slow, steady gains in eastern Ukraine.

"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.

U.S. President Joe Biden said the development was "very dangerous."

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, using a term for a Russian region.

Ukrainian military intelligence said on Thursday that the first North Korean units had been recorded in the Kursk border region, where Ukrainian troops have been operating since staging a major incursion in August.

But the Pentagon declined to confirm that North Korean forces were already in Kursk.

"It is likely that they are moving in that direction towards Kursk. But I don't have more details just yet," Singh said.

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.

The Kremlin had initially dismissed reports about a North Korean deployment as "fake news". But Putin on Thursday did not deny North Korean troops were in Russia and said that it was Moscow's business how to implement a partnership treaty with Pyongyang.

A North Korean foreign ministry official did not confirm media reports about a troop deployment to Russia but said if Pyongyang had taken such action, he believed it would be in line with international norms.

The deployment of North Korean troops was a sign of "growing desperation" on Putin's part, Rutte said.

"Over 600,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in Putin’s war and he is unable to sustain his assault on Ukraine without foreign support," Rutte said.

The Ukrainian president's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said sanctions alone would not be a sufficient response to North Korean involvement.

He added that Kyiv needs "weapons and a clear plan to prevent North Korea's expanded involvement".

"The enemy understands strength. Our allies have this strength," Yermak said on X.

(Reporting by Andrew Gray in Brussels, Phil Stewart in Washington; additional reporting by Yuliia Dysa in Gdansk and Gabriella Borter in New Castle, Delaware and Susan Heavey in Washington; editing by Bart Meijer, Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Mark Heinrich, Angus MacSwan and Rod Nickel)

by Khabooem

30 comments

  1. No “new”? What about lifting current restrictions?
    TL; DR

  2. Wouldnt it have made more sense to give Ukraine the greenlight from the getgo?

  3. No new limits huh? That’s not the issue we’ve been worrying about.. ffs.

    Remove all limits. Since when is the nation being invaded supposed to fight with their hands tied behind their back?

  4. Shouldn’t be any limits at all but Biden is a coward and I’m glad he is going to be out of office soon.

  5. unfortunately their definition of NK “joining the fight” could mean quite a few different things

  6. Nicely ambiguous article using the words ‘No new limits’.

    Does it mean the current limits will stay in place, or the gloves are off?

  7. No balls ffs, ruzzian doing what they want, now nk and they still restricting use of usa weapons….

  8. Is this news worthy? No new limits is like ”remains the same”. So nothing new i guess?

  9. And old restrictions removed, right? RIGHT? Damn my fn government.

  11. Pretty infuriating. Why even make that statement? Have they been sitting around pondering new restrictions to impose on Ukraine? Is this decision supposed to be viewed as some sign of political will?

  12. Let’s just let them do as they please and fuck the Russians up
    Enough is enough

    Bomb away. F Putin

  13. What a completely meaningless statement by the Pentagon. Ukraine needs to be allowed to use donatd weapons on Russian territory ASAP, be able to hit airfields in Russia with ATACMs HIMARS and Stormshadows. The pussyfooting about around Putin needs to stop

  14. New…so the same old restrictive restrictions remain. Putin will be laughing.

  15. okay guys, important meeting. I’ve came here to inform you, that based on recent developments of North Korea entering the war, we have decided, that we will stop making the war harder for you guys mmkkkaaayyyy…

    like bro, are you even serious at this point or is this just a meme?

  16. First they tried to pretend North Koreans are not there. Then they switched to strongly concerned letters, and then started to downplay everything (see WaPo article that NK troops are worthless).

    And of course limits for striking Russia stays in place.

    I wonder when people finally realize that the US is not interested in Ukrainian victory?

  17. “We’re fine with the other side escalating the war. Again.”

    Useless.

  18. No new limits on fighting North Korean threat also?

    Goddamned, if I had known the Pentagon had it’s own Monty Python press secretary, I would have applied a long time ago.

  19. No new? What the actual fuck?
    Lift all restrictions…

  20. So they were planning on other restrictions with things we don’t know about yet?

  22. maybe we really have to thank them. if the limits are removed Ukraine will finally start fighting back

  23. So what? It’s the restrictions already in place that are the problem.

  24. Only since nk came into the picture, it’s gloves off wtf us

  25. I like your new limits better than your old limits… 🤔

  29. NATO countries get invited into Ukraine as border guards on the East and North freeing up Ukrainian troops to head to frontline. NATO would need to bring all the weapons systems to fight but just lend them to Ukraine.

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