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.

To avoid being hit by multiple drone attacks from the air, North Koreans have taken to forming a ‘human shield,’” says a Seoul-based specialist.

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.

Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin and Alexei Liptser – already in custody – have been jailed from three-and-a-half to five years after being arrested in October 2023, charged with involvement with extremist groups, which is what the Russian state designates opposition groups as.

NATO Military Committee Chairman Admiral Rob Bauer has described the participation of North Korean forces on Moscow's side in Russia's war against Ukraine as a strategic mistake. He specifically pointed to the low effectiveness of the North Korean military and its high casualties,

Russia signed a strategic partnership treaty with Iran on Friday that follows similar pacts with China and North Korea. All three countries are adversaries of the United States, and Russia has used its ties with them to help blunt the impact of Western sanctions and boost its war effort in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the wounded North Korean soldiers were taken to Kyiv and are communicating with Ukrainian officials.

There is mounting evidence from the battlefield, intelligence reports and testimonies of defectors that some North Korean soldiers are resorting to extreme measures as they support Russia's three-year war with Ukraine.

Over 12,000 North Korean troops are estimated to be fighting against Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region, the United Nations Security Council learned last week.

South Korea's top envoy to the United Nations said Thursday that North Korean troops are being dissipated as "expendables" in Russia's war against Ukraine and treated as a "cynical" means of sustaining the North Korean regime.