North Korea is preparing to send additional troops to Russia, despite their role as “human bait” on the battlefield, a report has warned.

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

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.

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.

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.

Captured North Korean soldiers have lifted the curtain ever so slightly on the secretive Kim regime’s decision to join Russia’s war against Ukraine.

North Korea is poised to send Vladimir Putin’s troops over 100 extra long-range weapons to unleash on Ukrainian forces, a top general has revealed. The Hermit State’s 170mm M1989 Koksan howitzers, dubbed "juche cannons", are among the longest-range artillery systems in the world.

Andriy Kowalenko, head of the Center for Counteracting Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, reported that Russia increasingly depends on artillery supplies from North Korea.

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

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