(Reuters) -Ukraine has captured two North Korean soldiers in Russia's Kursk region, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday, the first time Ukraine has announced the capture of North Korean soldiers alive since their entry into the war last autumn.

A thousand North Korean troops who have been fighting in the Kursk region of Russia have been killed in Vladimir Putin ’s war with Ukraine, officials have said. Western officials have told the BBC that 36 per cent of North Korean forces fighting in Russia had been killed, injured or captured by mid-January.

A North Korean soldier nearly died after refusing to surrender his sausage at gunpoint when captured by Ukrainian forces.

Ukraine's military said 21 troops were killed and 40 injured in the operation in the Russian region where it is staging an incursion.

In the Kursk region, more than 20 North Korean soldiers were killed recently by snipers of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. During the repulsion of the assault, the losses of the North Korean military were: ・21 eliminated;

The report highlights that North Korean soldiers have developed unique battlefield tactics, such as using a soldier as bait to shoot down drones or detonating grenades, holding it under the neck with one hand on the pin when the Ukrainian military approaches to avoid capture when severely wounded.

Around 1,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed and 3,000 wounded while fighting in Russia’s war against Ukraine, the BBC’s Russian service reported Wednesday, citing unnamed Western officials. North Korea is believed to have sent thousands of troops last fall to help the Russian military drive out Ukrainian forces that are occupying the