North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister denounced calls for denuclearization, describing the country’s nuclear weapons as its “ultimate shield,” state media reported, as Ukraine warned that more North Korean soldiers could join Russia’s war efforts.

Resolute and clear is the DPRK’s stand that nuclear deterrence is the ultimate shield for national sovereignty and the supreme guarantee for defending sovereignty,” Kim Yo Jong said (File Photo/ AFP)

“Resolute and clear is the DPRK’s stand that nuclear deterrence is the ultimate shield for national sovereignty and the supreme guarantee for defending sovereignty,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried Monday by the official Korean Central News Agency, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

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Kim made the comments as she criticized a joint statement by foreign ministers at the ASEAN Regional Forum. She said North Korea’s nuclear status is “final and irreversible,” and that its “nuclear capability will be updated steadily without a momentary stagnation.”

The statement comes days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asserted that Russia wants 30,000 more troops and additional ballistic missile launchers from North Korea, without citing a source for the information. “Since June, preparations have been underway in Russia’s Voronezh region to receive them,” Zelenskyy said.

North Korea has been supplying troops and weapons to back Russia’s war against Ukraine, US and South Korean officials have said.

Last week, North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who thanked North Korea for supporting his war efforts.