North Korean troops are pulled from Russian frontline amid heavy losses

North Korean troops, deployed to fight in Russia's Kursk region since November, have now been pulled back from the frontline, according to new reports.

President Volodymyr Zelensky recently said that more than a third of the 11,000 soldiers North Korea provided to Moscow have been killed or injured.

The North Korean forces were sent to assist Russia, fighting in the Kursk region, in its efforts to expel Ukrainian troops from a pocket of territory seized by Kyiv last summer.

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Of the 4,000 DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) soldiers who have become casualties, around 1,000 are reported to have been killed.

Video footage circulating on social media has shown North Korean troops launching assaults across open ground, often without artillery or air support.

Hundreds have been killed by Ukrainian kamikaze drones.

In an interview with Sky News, the commander of a Ukrainian Special Forces unit said the DPRK soldiers had been pulled back, possibly to regroup and adapt their tactics.

The commander described the North Korean troops as appearing to be brainwashed, charging forward despite facing heavy Ukrainian fire.

Many reportedly chose to take their own lives rather than face capture, detonating grenades in suicide attacks.

Ukrainian forces who encountered the North Koreans found that they were aged between 25 and 40 and often carried fake Russian identity papers.

The DPRK soldiers were also reportedly without food or water.

According to the Ukrainian commander, radio intercepts suggest that the North Koreans' retreat may only be temporary, as Pyongyang prepares to send reinforcements.

February will mark three years since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.