KYIV: Ukraine has captured two North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region, President Volody­myr Zelensky claimed on Saturday.

North Korean regular troops entered the war on Russia’s side in October. Kyiv and its western allies initially estimated their numbers at above 10,000.

In a post on X, Zelensky said that the soldiers had been brought to Kyiv and were communicating with the Ukraine’s security service. “As with all prisoners of war, these two North Korean soldiers are receiving the necessary medical assistance,” Zelensky said. He said that journalists would be given access to speak to them.

Kyiv says that North Korean troops are fighting in the Kursk region, where Ukraine launched an incursion in August. Kyiv says it still controls several hundred square kilometres of territory there.

Pyongyang has also been supplying Moscow with vast quantities of artillery shells, according to Kyiv and its western allies.

Ukraine had previously claimed it captured North Korean soldiers in combat, but that they had been badly wounded and died shortly afterward.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2025