Western officials have told the BBC that North Korean troops have already suffered nearly 40% casualties in the fighting in Russia's western Kursk region, in just three months.

The report highlights that North Korean soldiers have developed unique battlefield tactics, such as using a soldier as bait to shoot down drones or detonating grenades, holding it under the neck with one hand on the pin when the Ukrainian military approaches to avoid capture when severely wounded.

Soldiers of the 8th Regiment of Ukraine's Special Operations Forces resisted a North Korean assault in Russia’s Kursk Oblast for eight hours before retreating, killing 21 and wounding 40 soldiers, the unit said on Jan.

Ukrainian forces described a different kind of enemy, fighting with unfamiliar tactics and little option to retreat.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he’s willing to hand over the soldiers to North Korea, if Kim Jong Un arranges for an exchange with Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia.

Ukraine’s president released a video of the two soldiers being interrogated, revealing they knew little about the war they were sent to fight in.

Reports suggest that North Korean soldiers are ordered to avoid capture at all costs, even resorting to suicide rather than falling into enemy hands. Ukrainian military sources in

North Korean soldiers were transported to Russian territory by ferry and then by train, kept in complete information isolation, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy clarified that intelligence officers interrogated the North Korean soldier about their transportation to Russian territory,