Brussels/Washington, 13 November 2024 (dpa/MIA) - The United States is committed to ensuring Ukraine can keep defending against Russia in 2025 and negotiate from "a position of strength," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at NATO headquarters on Wednesday.

US President Joe Biden will make sure "that every dollar" promised to Ukraine will be sent before January 20, Blinken said.

Biden will hand over the presidency to President-elect Donald Trump on January 20.

Trump said during his election campaign that he would quickly end the war in Ukraine. However, he has not yet said how he intends to achieve this.

The US's top diplomat was at the Brussels headquarters of the alliance to discuss support for Ukraine after Trump's victory in the US presidential elections.

NATO is "critical to the security of the United States and security of countries throughout Europe," Blinken said.

The US will "continue to shore up everything" that is being done to support Ukraine against the full-scale Russian invasion, Blinken added.

Blinken also discussed North Korean soldiers fighting on behalf of Russia in the Ukraine war, a development he described as "profound and incredibly dangerous."

NATO would send Russia and North Korea "a firm response" in reply, Blinken said, with reference to concerns voiced by countries neighbouring North Korea like Japan and South Korea.

Most of the 10,000 North Korean troops sent to Russia to help fight against Ukraine are already in action in the far western Kursk region, but battlefield success is not guaranteed, a US State Department deputy spokesman said on Tuesday.

Russia’s success on the battlefield using North Korean troops 'will in large part be dictated by how well the Russians can integrate them into their military," said the department's deputy spokesman, Vedant Patel.

"Some of the challenges they would need to overcome are interoperability, the language barrier, command and control, and communications," he added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had stated a few days ago that some of the 11,000 North Korean soldiers in the Russian border region of Kursk were involved in fighting with the Ukrainian army.

According to Zelensky, Ukraine's advances in the region has tied down approximately 50,000 Russian soldiers who cannot be deployed to other Russian front positions on Ukrainian territory.

MIA file photo