ARLINGTON, Va. — Tuesday marked 1,000 days since the war in Ukraine began. Along with that somber anniversary came what most certainly seemed like an escalation.
Ukraine used six US-made missiles to strike inside the Russian border for the first time.
The attack came two days after the Biden Administration gave Ukraine the OK to use the longer-range weapons against targets deep inside Russia. That decision came after Russian imported more than 11,000 North Korean soldiers.
The Pentagon insisted the United States' only interest is in helping Ukraine defend its sovereign borders.
"We're not at war with Russia. The party here that continues to escalate this war is Russia, by bringing another foreign country into the battlefield, by bringing in over 11,000 DPRK soldiers into the fight. That is escalatory action," said Defense Department Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh.
She disputed a reporter's assertion that the recent activity amounts to the beginning of WWIII.
"That is not the characterization that this building assesses," she said.