The U.S. and the West have “systematically undermined” European security by pursuing NATO expansion, a North Korean foreign ministry spokesperson said Monday, rejecting concerns about “respect for sovereignty” in the country’s highest-level statement on the war in Ukraine so far.

But the country’s state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper and other media available to domestic audiences in the DPRK have still yet to report on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine since it began last week.

“The U.S and the West, having devastated Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, are mouthing phrases about ‘respect for sovereignty’ and ‘territorial integrity’ over the Ukrainian situation which was detonated