Some units of the contingent of more than ten thousand North Korean soldiers who joined the Russian forces fighting the Ukrainian army in the Russian Kursk region have been withdrawn from the front line due to the high number of casualties.

The troops were reportedly some of the best North Korea has to offer but Russians allegedly used them as foot soldiers – meaning they’ve been regularly shot down by Ukrainian

North Korean troops have not been seen on the frontlines in Russia’s Kursk region for several weeks, a Ukrainian military official said Friday, amid reports of mass casualties among Pyongyang’s forces.