That makes capture of the two North Koreans of enormous propaganda value to Ukraine. During video interrogations, published by Zelenskyy, the North Korean POWs said they were told they were being deployed to Russia for training and then fighting, and that they were issued fake Russian military IDs.

A North Korean prisoner of war captured by Ukrainian forces said he came to Russia not knowing who he would fight in an additional interrogation video released by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on X,

Russian forces continue to advance on Ukrainian positions in Kursk, according to the journalists' sources, citing Ukrainian military personnel fighting in Russia’s Kursk Oblast. The "sudden absence" of North Korean troops on the battlefield may indicate that they are regrouping and assessing their future actions,