A North Korean soldier fighting on behalf of Russia has been captured by Ukrainian forces, South Korean intelligence has confirmed.

The troop is the first reported North Korean prisoner of war since Pyongyang deployed thousands of troops to reinforce Russia’s military in the Kursk border region.

“Through real-time information sharing with an allied country’s intelligence agency, it has been confirmed that one injured North Korean soldier has been captured,” South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said on Friday.

An unverified photo of the captured soldier, who appeared to be wounded, circulated on social media on Thursday night.

The location the soldier was seized was not known, a South Korean intelligence source told AFP.

It comes days after Volodymyr Zelensky said nearly 3,000 North Korean troops had been “killed or wounded” since they joined Russian troops in combat.

Ukrainian military intelligence said on Friday that North Korean troops have suffered recent heavy casualties and that they were lacking drinking water as supply lines had been impacted by fighting.