Zelensky says two North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia were captured in Kursk region
Kyiv, Ukraine CNN —
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said forces operating in the Kursk region of Russia have captured two North Korean soldiers, marking the first time that Kyiv has captured alive soldiers from the isolated state.
“Our soldiers have captured North Korean military personnel in the Kursk region. Two soldiers, though wounded, survived and were transported to Kyiv, where they are now communicating with the Security Service of Ukraine,” Zelensky said Saturday in a statement on X, which included several images of the injured soldiers.
According to Ukrainian and Western assessments, some 11,000 North Korean troops are deployed in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces occupy several hundred square kilometers after staging a cross-border incursion in August last year.
Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said more than 1,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed or wounded in Kursk in the last week of December.
Zelensky said of the two Korean soldiers who had been captured: “This was not an easy task: Russian forces and other North Korean military personnel usually execute their wounded to erase any evidence of North Korea’s involvement in the war against Ukraine.”
A video and still photograph show a Russian military ID which Ukraine claims was carried by a North Korean soldier taken captive by Ukrainian forces. CNN has blurred the name and date of birth on the ID.Soldiers in bunk beds
The Ukrainian Security Service, the SBU, released video purportedly showing the soldiers.
In the video, the SBU spokesman says one of the North Koreans was captured on January 9 by Ukrainian special forces, and the other by Ukrainian paratroopers.
“They are being held in appropriate conditions that