Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks to journalists during a press conference at an EU summit in Brussels, Oct. 17, 2024. AP-Yonhap

Russia has lost up to a battalion of North Korean soldiers over the past two days in its western Kursk border region in the ongoing war against Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.

Zelenskyy made the claim citing the report he received from his military, saying that the Russian army "lost up to a battalion of infantry North Korean soldiers and Russian paratroopers today and yesterday," Ukrainian media RBC reported Saturday (local time).

Zelenskyy's latest remark came after South Korea's spy agency confirmed Ukraine's capture of an injured North Korean soldier who later died, in the first reported instance of its kind.

Some 11,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Russia so far, with signs of preparations for additional deployment of troops and military equipment, according to South Korean officials.

Zelenskyy said earlier that North Korea has suffered more than 3,000 casualties in the Kursk region. (Yonhap)