North Korea has issued somewhat rare statements lashing out at growing US military involvement in Ukraine, with the influential sister of Kim Jong Un condemning the decision to transfer heavy battle tanks.
Kim Yo Jong's statement came on the heels this week of the US confirming it will send 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, and they were her first public remarks in months. She charged that Washington is crossing a "red line" in its drive to escalate a "proxy war" aimed at regime change in Russia. "I express serious concern over the US escalating the war situation by providing Ukraine with military hardware for ground offensive," said Kim.
"The US is the arch criminal which poses serious threat and challenge to the strategic security of Russia and pushes the regional situation to the present grave phase," she added, in her official statement as vice-department director of the Central Committee of the Workers Party of Korea.
"I do not doubt that any military hardware the US and the West boast of will be burnt into pieces in the face of the indomitable fighting spirit and might of the heroic Russian army and people," she added.