A thousand North Korean troops who have been fighting in the Kursk region of Russia have been killed in Vladimir Putin ’s war with Ukraine, officials have said. Western officials have told the BBC that 36 per cent of North Korean forces fighting in Russia had been killed, injured or captured by mid-January.

According to preliminary estimates, the total number of casualties exceeded 3,000 soldiers, including 2,700 wounded. This follows an earlier statement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Jan.

Ukraine has captured two North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Saturday.

"I didn't even know who we were fighting against," the captured soldier from Pyongyang told Ukraine's Security Service.

A wounded North Korean soldier captured by Ukrainian forces in Russia's Kursk region earlier this month told interrogators that Pyongyang's troops fighting for Moscow are suffering major losses. Ukraine said last week that it captured two North Korean soldiers in the border region and posted videos of their interrogation,

Soldiers of the 95th Separate Air Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine told the details of how they captured a North Korean soldier in the Kursk region. The North Korean soldier was wounded and tried to commit suicide,

Russian forces continue to advance on Ukrainian positions in Kursk, according to the journalists' sources, citing Ukrainian military personnel fighting in Russia’s Kursk Oblast. The "sudden absence" of North Korean troops on the battlefield may indicate that they are regrouping and assessing their future actions,