Soldiers fighting for Ukraine describe facing relentless waves of determined North Korean troops, Russian units with improved tactics, and Ukraine’s own struggles with exhaustion and sinking morale.

KYIV, Ukraine – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a renewed appeal to the country’s allies on Sunday to provide more U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems following a week with more than 1,000 Russian air attacks.

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.

The paratroopers said the already-wounded North Korean ran "headfirst" into a concrete pillar when they tried to load him into a vehicle.

The military did not specify the exact date of the battle but noted that Ukrainian infantry and snipers, equipped with small arms and grenade launchers, held off the North Korean army's advance on Ukrainian positions for over eight hours.

Approximately 1,000 North Korean troops have been killed in Russia’s Kursk region while fighting Ukraine on Vladimir Putin’s behalf, officials say.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has awarded orders to the Ukrainian military who were first to capture the soldiers from North Korea in Kursk Oblast (Russia). Source: Zelenskyy on social media Details: The 3rd grade orders – the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi and the Order for Courage – were awarded to paratroopers of the 95th Separate Air

President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to broker a peace deal in Ukraine, but as he prepares to take office, peace seems as elusive as ever

That makes capture of the two North Koreans of enormous propaganda value to Ukraine. During video interrogations, published by Zelenskyy, the North Korean POWs said they were told they were being deployed to Russia for training and then fighting, and that they were issued fake Russian military IDs.

The North Korean soldiers fighting for Moscow on the Kursk front lack familiarity with modern warfare. They are making up for their weaknesses with a fanatical will to fight – to the point of suicide.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this month that as many as 4,000 North Korean troops have been killed or wounded in recent weeks, with only two captured alive. Both men were wounded and transferred to custody in Kyiv, where Zelenskyy said they are being interrogated and treated for their injuries.

Since Trump’s election victory, his team has not outlined a peace proposal to Ukraine’s leadership, according to two sources close to Ukraine’s government and a former U.S. diplomat.