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.

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

Ukraine's Special Forces say they killed 21 North Korean soldiers, show combat footage Kyiv court arrests three senior officers accused of failed defense of Kharkiv Oblast Russia lacks manpower for major breakthrough in Ukraine,