Budanov said North Korea has sent 120 self-propelled howitzers and 120 MLRS to Russia, and is likely to send the same number again.

A South Korean lawmaker said Seoul's intelligence showed some 3,000 North Korean troops have been wounded or killed in Kursk.

It will mostly be missile and artillery troops who typically operate hundreds of tubed and rocket artillery systems as well as the KN-23 short-range ballistic missiles Pyongyang has already provided Moscow,

North Korea's disguised rocket launchers. North Korea has sent rocket launchers disguised as civilian trucks to Russia to support the combined Russian-North Korean force battling an incursion by Ukrainian troops.

A third of the troops North Korea deployed to western Russia’s Kursk Oblast late last year has been killed or wounded, according to Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelensky. Col. Ants Kiviselg, the head of the Estonian defense forces’ intelligence center, confirmed the claim.

The attack came as South Korea’s military said North Korea is preparing to send more troops to join Russia’s fight against Ukraine, despite Pyongyang suffering a high rate of losses among its existing deployment of 11,000 and seeing some of its soldiers captured.

Ukraine's military said 21 troops were killed and 40 injured in the operation in the Russian region where it is staging an incursion.

North Korea troops have been helping Russian forces as they seek to push Ukrainian soldiers out of Russia’s Kursk region.

The officials, who spoke on grounds of anonymity, said that out of the estimated 11,000 troops sent from North Korea, known as DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea), 4,000 were battle casualties.

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

The paratroopers said the already-wounded North Korean ran "headfirst" into a concrete pillar when they tried to load him into a vehicle.