South Korea’s military says it suspects North Korea is preparing to send additional troops to Russia after its soldiers already deployed on the Russian-Ukraine war fronts suffered heavy casualties.

North Korea has not responded to reports of its troops captured or killed by Ukraine forces. It has never publicised the deployment or large shipments of North Korean artillery shells and other weapons sent to Russia to help its war against Ukraine, although they marked the country’s first intervention in a major armed conflict overseas in decades.

Ukrainian soldiers captured North Korean soldiers in Russia's Kursk Oblast. Source: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Quote: "These are two soldiers who, although they sustained injuries, survived, were taken to Kyiv and are talking to investigators of the Security Service of Ukraine.

Ukraine's military said 21 troops were killed and 40 injured in the operation in the Russian region where it is staging an incursion.

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.

Ukraine has captured two injured North Korean soldiers from the battlefield in Russia’s Kursk region and transferred them to Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday.

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

Around 1,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed and 3,000 wounded while fighting in Russia’s war against Ukraine, the BBC’s Russian service reported Wednesday, citing unnamed Western officials. North Korea is believed to have sent thousands of troops last fall to help the Russian military drive out Ukrainian forces that are occupying the