As North Korean troops dispatched to Russia become increasingly involved in combat with Ukraine, China is upping its pressure on North Korea with crackdowns on North Korean workers.

Ukraine’s president released a video of the two soldiers being interrogated, revealing they knew little about the war they were sent to fight in.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he’s willing to hand over the soldiers to North Korea, if Kim Jong Un arranges for an exchange with Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia.

Ukrainian troops captured two North Korean soldiers as prisoners of war (POWs) in Russia's Kursk Oblast, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Jan. 11. "This task was not easy," he said in a Telegram post.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the wounded North Korean soldiers were taken to Kyiv and are communicating with Ukrainian officials.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a video showing the apparent interrogation of two North Korean soldiers captured alive in the war.

South Korea's intelligence agency estimates that approximately 300 North Korean soldiers have been killed and another 2,700 injured while fighting alongside Russian forces against Ukraine. This marks North Korea's first participation in a large-scale conflict since the 1950-53 Korean War.

Ukraine has found “irrefutable evidence” of North Korea’s involvement in Russia’s war against his country, president Volodymyr Zelensky said this week as he announced the capture of two North Korean soldiers.

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.

Approximately 1,000 North Korean troops have been killed in Russia’s Kursk region while fighting Ukraine on Vladimir Putin’s behalf, officials say. Anonymous Western sources told the BBC that, as of mid-January,

During his first term in office, U.S. President Donald Trump applied his particular brand of diplomacy with Washington's adversaries, publicly befriending Russia and North Korea while separately piling pressure on China and Iran.