KYIV, Ukraine — Five months after their shock offensive into Russia, Ukrainian troops are bloodied and demoralized by the rising risk of defeat in Kursk, a region some want to hold at all costs while others question the value of having gone in at all.

North Korean troops deployed in Russia's Kursk region are suffering heavy losses and being left unprotected by the Russian forces they are fighting alongside, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy worried that North Korean troops suffered 'significant' losses in the Kursk region. Zelenskiy, also said Russian troops were sending the North Koreans into battle with just minimal protection.