US officials have previously confirmed that outgoing President Joe Biden, who is attending a G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, gave the green light for ally Kyiv to use long-range missiles against Russia.
While the White House has not done so on the record, it has hinted that the move is a response to Russia’s use of North Korean soldiers against Ukraine.
The deployment of Pyongyang’s troops is a “significant escalation… and we warned that the United States would respond. I won’t get into the details of that response today”, the National Security Council spokesperson said.
The US reaction came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused G20 leaders of failing to act after Putin’s nuclear rule change.
Ukraine is anxiously watching to see whether US President-elect Donald Trump will switch off American military aid and try to push through a peace deal that could force Kyiv to cede territory to Moscow.
