President Zelenskyy announces Ukraine captured two North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region, marking the first such detentions amid Russia's war.
Ukraine has apprehended two injured North Korean soldiers from the combat zone in Russia’s Kursk region and transferred them to Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated on Saturday.
“Two soldiers, though wounded, survived and were transported to Kyiv, where they are now communicating with the Security Service of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy posted on X, accompanied by a series of photos of the prisoners.
It marks the first instance Ukraine has announced it has detained North Korean troops since Pyongyang reportedly deployed an estimated 11,000 soldiers to support Russia late last year, according to the U.S. and its allies. Neither Russia nor North Korea have publicly confirmed the troop deployment.
“As with all prisoners of war, these two North Korean soldiers are receiving the necessary medical assistance,” Zelenskyy commented, observing that their capture “was not an easy task,” adding the assertion that Russian and North Korean soldiers "usually execute their wounded to erase any evidence of North Korea’s involvement in the war against Ukraine.”
One of the images shared by Zelenskyy depicted a man with both arms bandaged and a striped sweater draped over his shoulders. Another man is pictured with swollen lips and a bandage encircling his head.
Two additional images displayed the front and interior pages of a Russian document.
Ukraine's military cautioned in December that Russia was attempting to "conceal the presence of North Korean military personnel by issuing them false documents."
It conveyed that military identification cards for North Koreans killed in the conflicts were "missing all the stamps and photographs," and that the signatures on the documents are in Korean, which “indicates the real origin of these soldiers.”
In October, South Korean intelligence services indicated that North Korean special forces soldiers received Russian military uniforms and Russian-made weapons, in addition to fake identification documents to make it appear as if they originated from Russia’s Far East, where individuals can resemble North Koreans.
Zelensky remarked that he had instructed Ukraine's security service to grant journalists access to the prisoners.
“The world needs to know the truth about what is happening,” he asserted.
Zelenskyy reported last week that 4,000 North Korean soldiers have died or sustained injuries in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces have initiated a cross-border incursion since August.
That same month, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby disclosed that some North Korean soldiers had taken their own lives rather than surrender to Ukrainian forces.
These suicides, he explained, were “likely out of fear of reprisal against their families in North Korea in the event that they’re captured.”