Russia won't say if it mistakenly downed an Azerbaijani plane on Christmas. But it acknowledges the crash came amid a Ukrainian drone attack in its republic of Chechnya.

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.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this month that Russia was trying to "conceal losses" of North Korean troops fighting against Ukraine.

North Korean soldiers sent to aid Russia in its fight against Ukraine are dying in droves and some of them have even chosen suicide over surrender, according to officials. More than 1,000 North Korean soldiers were killed fighting in the Kursk region this past week — almost 10% of its deployment to Russia — after generals ordered a “human wave” attack,