The New York Times has reported, quoting a senior US defense official, that within the next two months, North Korea is expected to send more troops to aid Russian forces in the western region of Kursk, where Ukrainians have taken territory in a cross-border attack.

The New York Times said on Wednesday that last fall, North Korea sent about 11,000 soldiers to the Kursk region. They are there to assist Russia in its fierce battle to retake the territory captured by Ukraine.

The media said that about one-third of those North Korean soldiers have since been killed or wounded, according to Ukrainian and American officials.

The New York Times quoted a Ukrainian drone commander as saying that North Korean soldiers initially did not have combat experience but they are now "gaining it, and they are becoming very strong."

The media went on to say that according to one senior US defense official, North Korean reinforcements in the region are expected "within the next two months."

BBC has also reported, quoting several Western officials, that out of the estimated 11,000 troops sent from North Korea, around 1,000 are believed to have been killed by mid-January.

Meanwhile, the governor of Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine said that a Russian missile and drone attack in the early hours of Thursday killed one person and injured 45 others.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has condemned the attack. He said in his social media post that during the second wave of shelling, rescuers were wounded while they were responding to the aftermath.