Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he’s willing to hand over the soldiers to North Korea, if Kim Jong Un arranges for an exchange with Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia.

To avoid being hit by multiple drone attacks from the air, North Koreans have taken to forming a ‘human shield,’” says a Seoul-based specialist.

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.

It comes after Ukraine released footage of two captured men, reportedly North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia.

Western officials have told the BBC that North Korean troops have already suffered nearly 40% casualties in the fighting in Russia's western Kursk region, in just three months. The officials, who spoke on grounds of anonymity,

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 Ukrainian Special Operations Forces (SSO) have killed 21 North Korean soldiers who launched an attack on Ukrainian positions in the Kursk region of Russia. "It lasted for more than eight hours," reported the SSO.

The Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine published a report on the assault by North Korean soldiers on Ukrainian positions in the Kursk region. Intense fighting lasted several hours,