Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that Russia had begun deploying North Korean soldiers to storm Ukrainian positions in the Kursk region.

A "significant number" of North Korean soldiers have begun fighting alongside Russian forces in assault operations in Kursk Oblast, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address on Dec. 14.

"We have seen hundreds of (North Korean soldiers) on the battlefield already, and (Ukraine is) successfully fighting them as we are fighting with the Russians," Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova told CBS News.