Ukraine believes North Korean soldiers fighting alongside Russia’s army on the Kursk front line have been “withdrawn” after suffering heavy losses, a military spokesman told AFP on Friday. Russia again refused to comment on claims foreign troops were fighting alongside their own soldiers.

Ukrainian special forces tell the BBC they have not seen any North Koreans in Russia's Kursk region in three weeks.

Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SOF) confirmed that North Korean troops have been absent from Russia's Kursk Oblast for around three weeks. Source: Oleksandr Kindratenko, the spokesperson for the Special Operations Forces,