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The United States is still assessing what exactly Russia will offer North Korea in exchange for its troops participating in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
This was stated by U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in an interview with CBS News.
According to Sullivan, the U.S. “does not know for certain” what Russia is giving North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in return for the soldiers he is sending to fight on the battlefield in Ukraine.
“Frankly, I think Vladimir Putin himself may not know for sure. I think he has probably not yet decided what exactly he is going to provide to North Korea in the future,” Sullivan added.
The advisor suggested that Kim Jong Un is likely expecting “something substantial, possibly in the form of military and technological support from Russia” — perhaps even for North Korea’s nuclear program.
“I can’t say for certain what will happen, but we’ve already heard Russian officials saying that North Korea’s nuclear program should be viewed differently today than it was five or ten years ago. So concerns about Russia-North Korea relations on both sides are very real, and it’s something that all countries in the free world should pay attention to,” Sullivan noted.
This week, the U.S. confirmed that North Korean troops participated in combat for the first time in Russia’s Kursk region in recent days.
Additionally, The New York Times reported that a 50,000-strong group of Russian and North Korean troops is preparing to launch a major counteroffensive in the Kursk region.
NATO countries condemned the decision by Russia and North Korea to involve North Korean troops in combat against Ukraine.
Read also: Ukrainian Defense Forces strike ammo depot in Bryansk region, Russia – General Staff
