North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia have “perpetuated” the war in Ukraine, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday, in what appears to be the Trump administration’s most direct criticism to date of the DPRK troop deployment to Kursk.

At a press briefing on Wednesday, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce was asked about military cooperation between Russia and North Korea following a visit by Moscow’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko to Pyongyang over the weekend.

“So we know, of course, that’s a perfect example of how third countries like the DPRK have perpetuated this war. So this is a dynamic