Ukrainian forces described a different kind of enemy, fighting with unfamiliar tactics and little option to retreat.

A lone North Korean soldier who survived an intense battle against Ukrainian soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region chose to blow himself up rather than allow himself to be captured, Kyiv

After a battle in Russia's snowy western region of Kursk this week, Ukrainian special forces scoured the bodies of more than a dozen slain North Korean enemy soldiers. Among them, they found one still alive.

"I didn't even know who we were fighting against," the captured soldier from Pyongyang told Ukraine's Security Service.

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.

A wounded North Korean soldier captured by Ukrainian forces in Russia's Kursk region earlier this month told interrogators that Pyongyang's troops fighting for Moscow are suffering major losses. Ukraine said last week that it captured two North Korean soldiers in the border region and posted videos of their interrogation,

Videos of captured North Korean troops posted online by Ukrainian President Zelensky show them admitting that they thought they were being sent on an exercise.