KYIV: A wounded North Korean soldier captured by Ukraine in Russia's Kursk region has told interrogators that Pyongyang's troops fighting for Moscow are suffering serious losses, official video published on Monday (Jan 20) showed.

North Korea is gaining crucial military experience and equipment by sending troops to Russia, a U.S. official warned the United Nations, making the regime a growing threat to neighboring countries.

Speaking a day after Trump’s inauguration, Ukraine’s president told world leaders at Davos that Europe needs to remain united and “learn how to take care of itself.”

Russia signed a strategic partnership treaty with Iran on Friday that follows similar pacts with China and North Korea. All three countries are adversaries of the United States, and Russia has used its ties with them to help blunt the impact of Western sanctions and boost its war effort in Ukraine.

Ukraine and South Korea have said Pyongyang has deployed an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 servicemen to southern Russia to fight Ukrainian forces. More VLADIMIR SMIRNOV/POOL/AFP/Getty Images

The agreement is similar to the one Moscow signed with North Korea last year - as Vladimir Putin attempts to show the world is changing, and that, in his view, the US-led global order is crumbling.

North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, will not worry about battlefield casualties. Leaving aside the disregard of his regime for the welfare of the population, the deal agreed with Russia to send an initial contingent of 10-12,000 troops to boost Russian ranks in the war of attrition against Ukraine makes sense for him for several reasons.

Over 12,000 North Korean troops are estimated to be fighting against Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region, the United Nations Security Council learned last week.

"I didn't even know who we were fighting against," the captured soldier from Pyongyang told Ukraine's Security Service.

A surrendering North Korean soldier risked his life by refusing to drop his sausage at gunpoint, according to the Ukrainian paratroopers who captured him...

A captured North Korean soldier has said he did not know he was being sent to fight in a war in Russia and that Pyongyang’s troops are suffering major losses in battle, according to a video released by Ukraine.