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

A lone North Korean soldier who survived an intense battle against Ukrainian soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region chose to blow himself up rather than allow himself to be captured, Kyiv

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.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said the soldiers were captured in the western Kursk region, where Ukraine has been fighting to hold on to territory it seized last summer.

The wounded fighters were taken for questioning to Kyiv, authorities said, where they could reveal details of Pyongyang’s cooperation with Moscow.

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

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

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, North Korean soldiers were transported to Russian territory by ferry, then by train, and kept in total isolation as far as information was concerned.

Videos of captured North Korean troops posted online by Ukrainian President Zelensky show them admitting that they thought they were being sent on an exercise.

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,