Multiple defectors from North Korea spoke to NBC News about the mindset of soldiers sent to fight for Russia in Ukraine.

Pyongyang is to double the number of artillery systems it sends to Kursk, says Kyiv military intelligence chief

The North Korean troops fighting for Russia are highly trained and will stop at nothing to avoid surrender, Ukrainian sources tell Sam Kiley, The Independent’s World Affairs Editor, in Sumy

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for bolstering nuclear forces this year during a visit to the country's nuclear material production base and nuclear weapons institute, state media KCNA said on Wednesday.

Hyunseung Lee, a former soldier who fled North Korea, told BI that those sent to fight against Ukraine have "zero relationship with modern warfare."

On the battlefield, North Korean troops have withdrawn from the frontline in part of Russia ’s Kursk region after suffering heavy losses, a Ukrainian commander said.

Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov said North Korea has already provided Russia with 120 self-propelled artillery guns and 120 multiple-launch rocket systems, with more to come.

North Korean troops' limited combat experience and unfamiliarity with the terrain of the Russian-Ukrainian battlefields have contributed to heavy losses.

South Korea's military said on Friday that it suspects North Korea is preparing to send more troops to Russia to fight Ukrainian forces, even after suffering losses and seeing some of its soldiers captured.

Kharkiv region. In Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv province, a Russian glide bomb struck a residential area two miles from the frontlines, near the city of Kupyansk, killing two women on Jan. 26.

Pyongyang's monthly troop losses could skyrocket if it deploys more troops to the frontlines in Kursk and continues sustaining high losses.