The Ukrainian Foreign Minister on Thursday called on the West to authorize his country to strike Russian territory with long-range missiles, in response to the sending of North Korean soldiers to Russia ready to fight in Ukraine.
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Andriï Sybiga, who spoke at a peace conference in Montreal, estimated that the deployment of North Korean troops on the border with Ukraine constituted a “real escalation” in the war.
“We need a strong reaction,” he pleaded. “We need a strong decision from our allies to lift all restrictions on the use of long-range missiles towards Russian territory.”
“It is our right to self-defense and we are talking about military targets on Russian territory,” he added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to ask his Western allies to authorize his forces to strike deep inside Russia with long-range missiles.
Several countries, including the United States, refuse to give such a green light, for fear of an escalation with Moscow.
Citing U.S. intelligence, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that of the 10,000 North Korean troops Washington says have entered Russia, up to 8,000 “have been deployed in the Kursk region », on the border with Ukraine.
“We have not yet seen these troops deploy in combat against Ukrainian forces, but we expect that to happen in the coming days,” he added during a joint press conference with US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin and their South Korean counterparts.
South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun also claimed that Pyongyang had supplied more than “1,000 missiles” to Russia.
In Montreal, the Ukrainians received the support of the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Espen Barth Eide.
They “want to use these weapons against military targets, military targets that serve Russia in its attack on Ukraine. This should be the only restriction,” he argued, emphasizing that Canada and several European countries shared this point of view.
