WATCH the footage said to be the clearest evidence yet that North Korean troops are actively fighting for Russia against Ukraine after a training period.
New drone videos have been released by Ukraine's military claiming to show North Korean fighters (DPRK) on the front line and the bodies of slain Russian and Korean soldiers stacked together.
Ukraine's GUR military intelligence separately confirmed North Korea had suffered "significant losses" over two days of fighting and that "at least 30 soldiers were killed and wounded".
Another source estimated that up to 50 North Korean soldiers were killed after Ukraine took out 200 enemy fighters in the Kursk region of Russia.
The Kremlin refused to comment on reports of up to 12,000 DPRK troops fighting alongside its army.
One video is said to show the bodies of dozens of dead Korean soldiers laid out Putin's forces after the weekend's major clash in the Kursk region.
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A number of corpses can be seen lying side-by-side under a dusting of snow with their faces covered.
Another, released by Ukraine's Khorne Group, claims to show North Koreans hiding in snow-covered woodland and firing guns.
The soldiers in the video can be seen cowering from the drones flying above them while holding large weapons.
A spokesperson for the Khorne Group said: “The long awaited North Koreans.
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“Weakness and bravery are their tactics, their trump card is good fitness.”
They said the soldiers were “applying the same tactics as 70 years ago,” alluding to the Korean War.
A third video released by 95th Air Assault Brigade shows soldiers it identifies as DPRK fighters hiding amongst vast snowy fields and lobbing missiles at the overhead drones.
Independent investigative journalists from Volya reported that a joint force of Russians and North Koreans had been spotted on an offensive near the villages of Kamyshovka and Kamyshevka.
The report said: “As a result, the trenches of the Ukrainian positions that had been moved forward were captured.”
“The Russians and Koreans lost more than 200 people killed.
“In total, more than 500 people were involved in the two-day attacks, at least 200 of whom were North Koreans, about a quarter of whom died.
“Those who died on route to the deployment point for the attack were collected and taken by buggy to the near rear.
“According to our source in the Russian Armed Forces, the Koreans laid out the dead in rows, their own together with the Russians, and covered their faces.
“One of these rows is visible in the video from a Ukrainian drone.
“Our source spoke with Russian soldiers who took part in the assaults.
“According to their assessment, the North Korean soldiers acted almost blindly, guided by the movement of Russian soldiers nearby and by enemy fire.
“They were completely unprepared for the attacks of Ukrainian drones, but moved generally faster than the Russians.”
Separately, the independent Skhemi Project reported that the several dozen bodies seen in the snow included North Korean soldiers in combined units with Russians.
The newly-active North Korean forces apparently gathered their fallen in all-terrain vehicles and masked the faces of the dead.
Volodymyr Zelensky said over the weekend that he is aware that Kim’s forces - who arrived in Russia weeks ago - are now deployed.
He said: "The Russians include them in consolidated units and use them in operations in the areas of the Kursk region. So far, only there."
Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence separately claimed that North Korean special forces have killed eight Russian troops in an embarassing "friendly fire" incident.
The fatal blunder supposedly happened in Russia’s Kursk region when the DPRK mistook a Russian squad for Ukrainians.
They opened fire on a unit of Akhmat fighters, who are controlled by Putin warlord Ramzan Kadyrov, head of Russian region Chechnya, according to GUR.
GUR claimed the language barrier is a "serious obstacle" between the Russians and North Korean forces.
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“Due to [this] problem, North Korean soldiers opened ‘friendly fire’ on the vehicles of the so-called Akhmat battalion.
“The result was eight Kadyrov [fighters] killed.”