14-15.A total of at least 100 North Korean troops have been killed while fighting for Russia against Ukraine, a South Korean lawmaker said after an intelligence briefing, the BBC reported on Dec. 19.The Kyiv Independent could not verify these claims.The use of North Korean troops in Russia's ground operations was confirmed earlier in November, but their involvement has intensified recently.Pentagon spokesperson Major General Patrick Ryder confirmed on Dec. 16 that North Korean soldiers were actively participating in combat operations alongside Russian troops in Kursk Oblast and had suffered their first casualties.President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that Russia was trying to conceal the extent of the losses among the North Korean soldiers.North Korean troops in Kursk Oblast boost Russia’s manpower, despite vulnerabilitiesNorth Korean troops fighting in Kursk Oblast are especially vulnerable to drones but still managed to help Moscow advance a few kilometers in the partially Ukrainian-occupied region in southwest Russia, according to Western military experts analyzing open-source data.