Kyiv had indicated last week the North Koreans may have been withdrawn due to heavy losses in battle.

North Korea sent its best troops to aid Russia in its war against Ukraine. But after months of suffering severe losses, they have been taken off the front line.

This comes after reports that said Moscow had withdrawn them due to heavy losses. Read more at straitstimes.com.

North Korean soldiers had been missing from combat, fueling speculation they were pulled back after taking heavy losses.

Zelensky made the comments during his evening address to the nation, adding that during recent fighting "a significant number of occupiers have been eliminated, we're talking hundreds of Russian and North Korean servicemen.

This is almost certainly primarily due to heavy losses sustained during attacks against Ukrainian-held positions.” Reports differ on the scale of the losses but one put them as high as 4,000 North Korean soldiers killed or wounded.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed that Russian forces have "redeployed North Korean soldiers" to areas of the Kursk region where the Russian military has made limited advances