At least 100 North Korean soldiers have been killed in fighting in the Ukraine war since entering combat on the Russian side earlier this month, a South Korean MP has said. Lee Sung-kwon, speaking to reporters after parliament was briefed by the country's National Intelligence Service, said another 1,000 had been injured.

North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia were given fake military documents with Russian names and birthplaces, the Ukrainian military said, amid claims from Kyiv that Russia is trying to conceal the presence of foreign fighters on the battlefield.

North Korea has lost more than 3,000 troops in about two months of combat in Russia’s Kursk region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday — and he criticized world leaders for doing “almost nothing” to counter Moscow’s alliance with Pyongyang.

Zelensky warns of greater military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang, including sending more troops and military equipment

On Monday, December 23, the Ukrainian president claimed on his X account (formerly Twitter) that more than 3,000 North Korean soldiers had been “killed” or wounded” on the battlefield. This is far from the estimates of the South Korean army general staff,

North Korea is preparing to send additional soldiers and armaments, including kamikaze drones, to Russia, reports Yonhap, citing South Korean intelligence data. According to experts, about 10,000 soldiers sent by Kim Jong Un's regime are operating in the Kursk region.