‘We will respond in every way’: Russia warns South Korea against arming Ukraine

Russia will respond “in every way that we find necessary” if South Korea sends arms to Ukraine, a top Kremlin official said Sunday, warning that such a step would destroy relations between Seoul and Moscow.

Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko made the sharp remark as Seoul weighs its response to the deployment of thousands of North Korean troops to fight alongside Russia on the front lines of its war in Ukraine. That response could include the direct transfer of arms from South Korea to Ukraine.

The involvement of North Korea in the Russia-Ukraine war and the possibility of South Korea supplying Kyiv with weapons are clear examples of how the European conflict is escalating and pulling in other nations at a pivotal moment for the U.S. It will provide a crucial early test for President-elect Donald Trump, who is set to take office in January and has vowed to end the war quickly.

Mr. Trump’s nominee for White House national security adviser, Rep. Michael Waltz, said Sunday that the president-elect fully understands the gravity of the moment and how rapidly the international landscape is shifting. Earlier this month, the U.S. lifted restrictions on the use of American weapons and allowed Ukraine to fire into Russian territory. Moscow responded by firing a new ballistic missile into Ukraine, and Russian President Vladimir Putin issued thinly veiled threats against NATO.

“The president-elect has been very concerned about the escalation and where it’s all going,” Mr. Waltz told “Fox News Sunday.”

“North Korea has made this move. We have made a move. Russia has now responded. Iran is involved. South Korea is thinking about getting involved. Our allies have now extended the range of their missiles as well,” he said. “We need to bring this to a responsible end. We need to restore deterrence, restore peace and get ahead of this escalation ladder rather than responding to it.”

The North Korean detachments are directly engaged in fierce fighting with the Ukrainian military. The introduction of a third country into hostilities represents a clear escalation of the conflict and reinforces increasingly stark global divisions, with Russia, North Korea, China and Iran — part of the “axis of authoritarians” — on one side and the U.S., South Korea, NATO and other allies on the other.

South Korea has condemned North Korea’s involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war. Officials in Seoul have said they are considering changing South Korea’s long-standing policy against providing arms directly to Ukraine. Russian officials warned against it.

“Seoul must realize that the possible use of South Korean weapons to kill Russian citizens will fully destroy relations between our countries. Of course, we will respond in every way that we find necessary. It is unlikely that this will strengthen the security of the Republic of Korea itself,” Mr. Rudenko told Russia’s state-run Tass news agency. “I hope that the administration of the Republic of Korea will be guided primarily by long-term national interests and not by short-term opportunistic considerations prompted from outside.”

Russian forces last week fired an “intermediate-range ballistic missile” at Ukraine. Mr. Putin made clear that the launch was a warning to Ukraine and its Western supporters, including the U.S.

South Korean officials are closely monitoring the Russia-North Korea military partnership. A top South Korean official said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un could soon visit Russia for a meeting on the joint military efforts against Ukraine.

“It could be a reciprocal visit for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s trip to North Korea in June, or it could be a visit for Putin to thank the North on its troop deployment,” South Korean National Security Adviser Shin Won-sik told the country’s Yonhap News Agency on Sunday.

Mr. Trump has said repeatedly that he wants to end the Russia-Ukraine war soon after taking office. Some critics fear Mr. Trump will force Ukraine to make territorial concessions to Russia as part of any peace deal. The president-elect and his team have not publicly discussed specifics of their expected cease-fire push.

Some foreign policy analysts say Mr. Trump and his team must recognize the bigger picture.

“I think, and what I hope, is that those who President Trump has nominated, and President Trump himself, will begin to see the quite obvious connections between the war in Ukraine and this axis of aggressors that are doing everything they can to tear down the existing international order,” retired Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who served as Mr. Trump’s White House national security adviser during his first term, told CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday.

“I mean, North Korean soldiers are fighting on European soil in the first major war in Europe since World War II. Look at what China is doing to sustain Russia’s war-making machine, with the cash Vladimir Putin needs, but also with the equipment and the hardware necessary to build these missiles that are continuing this onslaught. Iran is providing the Shahed drones and missiles,” Gen. McMaster said. “North Korea is also providing, you know, 8 million rounds of artillery. So I think what’s happened is so many people have taken such a myopic view of Ukraine, and they’ve misunderstood Putin’s intentions and how consequential the war is to our interests across the world.”