Moscow says it has annexed Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region and sees taking control of Pokrovsk as an important stepping stone to incorporating the entire region into Russia. Kyiv and the West reject Russia’s territorial claims as illegal and accuse Moscow of prosecuting a war of colonial conquest.

The North Korean troops fighting for Russia are highly trained and will stop at nothing to avoid surrender, Ukrainian sources tell Sam Kiley, The Independent’s World Affairs Editor, in Sumy

Pyongyang understood to be ‘accelerating’ dispatch of troops, despite them being used as ‘cannon fodder’ in Moscow’s war with Ukraine

South Korea's military said on Friday that it suspects North Korea is preparing to send more troops to Russia to fight Ukrainian forces, even after suffering losses and seeing some of its soldiers captured.

North Korean troops' limited combat experience and unfamiliarity with the terrain of the Russian-Ukrainian battlefields have contributed to heavy losses.

Ukrainian forces described a different kind of enemy, fighting with unfamiliar tactics and little option to retreat.

North Korea is preparing to send Russia more than 100 artillery systems – originally designed to flatten Seoul – to be used in its war against Ukraine.

All North Korean recruits are taught a song that includes a verse about saving their last bullet for themselves to avoid capture, one former soldier told NBC News.

Vladimir Putin has refused to directly engage with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, calling him “illegitimate”. The Russian president said Ukraine will have to find a legal way to hold the peace talks as Kyiv has not held any elections since Russia started the war on its smaller neighbour.

Russia signed a strategic partnership treaty with Iran on Friday that follows similar pacts with China and North Korea. All three countries are adversaries of the United States, and Russia has used its ties with them to help blunt the impact of Western sanctions and boost its war effort in Ukraine.

Over 12,000 North Korean troops are estimated to be fighting against Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region, the United Nations Security Council learned last week. North Korea launched ...