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.

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.

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.

North Korean troops have been deployed to bolster Russian forces in the Kursk border region with Ukraine, where they are gaining battlefield experience despite initial heavy losses.

There is mounting evidence from the battlefield, intelligence reports and testimonies of defectors that some North Korean soldiers are resorting to extreme measures as they support Russia's three-year war with Ukraine.

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.