North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reportedly sent New Year’s messages to North Korean soldiers deployed in Russia's war against Ukraine, urging them to "fight with courage" until the end, according to a news report.

A crude handwritten diary belonging to a dead North Korean soldier in Ukraine has revealed Kim Jong Un’s troops are being used as “bait” to lure out and destroy Ukrainian drones.

The soldiers of the Korean People's Army captured from the front lines of the war in Ukraine appeared unwilling to defect from North Korea.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this month that as many as 4,000 North Korean troops have been killed or wounded in recent weeks, with only two captured alive. Both men were wounded and transferred to custody in Kyiv, where Zelenskyy said they are being interrogated and treated for their injuries.

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.

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.