BRUSSELS -- NATO and the European Union are ramping up efforts to persuade China to help get North Korea to stop sending troops and other support to Russia to back its war on Ukraine.

European governments and the U.S. have so far denied Kyiv permission to use their weapons for long-range strikes into Russia. Moscow has said such a move would be treated as tantamount to their direct involvement in the conflict, raising fears that it would open them up for retaliatory action.