Pyongyang, August 18 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea released the following press statement titled "U.S. and its following forces will be made to pay dear price for their irresponsible act" on August 18:

Shortly ago, Ukraine committed an extremely grave terrorist crime of killing tens of peaceable inhabitants and injuring hundreds through an armed invasion of the inviolable territory of Russia.

The reckless military provocations of the Zelenskiy puppet authorities are nothing but their last-ditch efforts to put under control the daily-worsening war situation at any cost and continuously get military support from the U.S. and the Western masters to prolong their remaining days and disturb the public mindset by creating the unrest in the Russian society.

The DPRK Foreign Ministry bitterly denounces the armed attack on the territory of Russia being launched by the Zelenskiy puppet authorities under the manipulation and support of the U.S. and the West as an unpardonable act of aggression and terrorism seriously encroaching upon the territorial integrity and security of a sovereign state and mercilessly killing peaceable civilians.

The reckless and intemperate military moves of the Zelenskiy puppet clique are enough to invite strong retaliation of Russia, and the stooges running amuck with the backing of their master should be completely eliminated militarily and physically.

The U.S. and its followers are held wholly responsible for the recent incident which can drive the whole of Europe into a new all-out war.

The U.S., the very one of the crisis in Ukraine, is getting more hell-bent in supporting weapons, while describing the atrocities of the Ukrainian armed bandits who are killing innocent inhabitants and destroying peaceful villages in Russia as "legitimate military actions pursuant to the right to self-defence".

The U.S. and its followers are misleading the public opinion as if they have nothing to do with the recent incident but various heavy hardware including the U.S. and the Western tanks being discovered in the Kursk battle field every day clearly proves who is standing behind Ukraine.

The present situation is an inevitable outcome of the U.S. and the West's vicious anti-Russia confrontation policy and acts of indiscriminately driving the Zelenskiy puppet authorities into the proxy war with Russia by providing them with an astronomical amount of lethal hardware, doing serious harm to the sovereignty, security and interests of Russia. As a result, the global security environment is being pushed to the threshold of the third world war.

The time will prove what is the danger of the U.S. ignorant move to drive the Kiev authorities into a proxy war until the last Ukrainian is left, seized with a hallucinant dream to bring a strategic defeat to Russia at any cost and what consequences it will entail.

Those who do irresponsible and fearless acts will be made to pay a dear price for their acts, and provocateurs will be subject to due retaliation.

The U.S. and its followers should seriously reconsider the catastrophic disaster to be entailed by the self-destructive military provocations perpetrated by the Zelenskiy puppet clique and be wholly responsible for it.

We do not doubt that the brave army and people of Russia will deal a merciless military blow to the armed invaders and attain their goal to the last in Kursk, the hero land that defeated the large army of the Hitler fascist clique more than 80 years ago and opened a turning phase of war.

The present Kursk battle will be a prelude to the total destruction of the Zelenskiy puppet clique and the strategic defeat of the U.S. and the West.

The DPRK will always stand together with the Russian Federation that has turned out valiantly in the struggle for international justice and invariably and strongly support the sacred war of the Russian army and people to defend the sovereignty, security and interests of the state. -0-