North Korea has slammed large-scale U.S.-ROK military drills this week as a “prelude to nuclear war,” while claiming that Washington is setting the stage for a “third World War” by supporting Ukraine as it pushes into Russian territory.

The claims in a pair of statements by the DPRK’s foreign ministry on Sunday represent Pyongyang’s latest effort to seize on current events to brand America as a disruptor of world peace, warning that such “provocations” will result in the “total destruction” of the U.S. and its allies.

In the first statementreleased through state media, the foreign ministry’s Institute for American