South Korea's spy agency said Friday it had confirmed that a North Korean soldier sent to back Russia's war against Ukraine had been captured by Ukrainian forces.

North Korean troops are reportedly suffering heavy losses in the fighting in Russia’s Kursk region. Ukraine’s military intelligence said on Thursday that

Ukrainian forces launched an incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August, a move that undermined Russia’s military prestige and forced it to redeploy troops from eastern Ukraine, where its offensiv

SEOUL: South Korea's spy agency said Friday it had confirmed that a North Korean soldier sent to back Russia's war against Ukraine had been captured by Ukrainian forces. Pyongyang has deployed thousands of troops to reinforce Russia's military,

Ukraine's military intelligence said Ukrainian strikes near Novoivanovka inflicted heavy casualties on North Korean units. It said North Korean troops also faced supply issues and even shortages of drinking water.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has, for the first time, sent combatant units abroad, to aid Russia in the war in Ukraine. As noted in the Joint Statement on the DPRK’s Deployment of Troops to Russia this development indelibly connects the Indo-Pacific and European theaters,

"This fire strike is part of a comprehensive campaign to weaken the ability of the Russian Armed Forces to coordinate military operations against the people of Ukraine," Ukraine's Center for Strategic Communications said.