President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraine's forces have captured two North Korean soldiers fighting alongside Russian troops in Russia’s Kursk border region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said forces operating in the Kursk region of Russia have captured two North Korean soldiers.

Ukrainian troops captured two North Korean soldiers as prisoners of war (POWs) in Russia's Kursk Oblast, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Jan. 11. "This task was not easy," he said in a Telegram post.

Ukraine has largely been driven out of Kurakhove, a battered but strategic town in the Donbas, Russia said. Kyiv’s forces were pressing a renewed offensive in southern Russia.

Russia said on Monday its forces had made important gains in eastern Ukraine while continuing to fend off a new Ukrainian offensive inside the Kursk region of western Russia, where a second day of fierce fighting was under way.

Russia has claimed that its forces captured a battered but strategic town in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, a day after Kyiv launched a counterattack in the Russian region of Kursk.

Ukraine has denied Russian claims that they have captured a key town in the eastern Donetsk region, but admitted that the situation looks desperate. Russia claimed control of the eastern town of Kurakhove on Monday,

"The situation in Kurakhove is really quite difficult right now, because a significant part of the city has been destroyed," Khortytsia group of forces spokesperson Viktor Trehubov said on national television Jan.

Ukraine’s ambitious plan to reclaim Kurakhove from Russian control has been decisively thwarted. Despite determined efforts, the Ukrainian army's attempts to retake the region were crushed by Russia’s overwhelming force.

Ukraine claimed on Tuesday that its forces had conducted a “high-precision” strike on a Russian military command post in the Kursk region during “combat operations”. However, Kyiv later backtracked and said it had launched fresh offensive operations in the area.