Ukraine says it has captured two North Korean soldiers who were wounded in Russia

Two wounded North Korean soldiers were taken as prisoners of war by Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday.

The two men received the “necessary medical assistance” and are in the custody of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in Kyiv, according to Zelensky.

The president said he was “thankful” to the Ukrainian paratroopers and soldiers from the Special Operation Forces for capturing the North Koreans.

He added that “this was not an easy task”, saying that Russian and North Korean soldiers often killed wounded North Koreans “to erase any evidence of North Korea’s involvement in the war with Ukraine”.

Ukraine’s intelligence services said in a statement that the detainees were captured on January 9 and soon after they were “provided with all necessary medical assistance as stipulated by the Geneva Convention” and taken to Kyiv.

“They are being held under appropriate conditions that meet the requirements of international law,” the intelligence agency said in a statement.

The intelligence service said the detainees do not speak Ukrainian, English or Russian, “so communication with them is done through Korean interpreters, in cooperation with the South Korean NIS (National Intelligence Service)”.

In a statement posted to Telegram and X, Zelensky said the military “talked to SBU investigators” and ordered the Security Ministry of Ukraine to give journalists access to them.

“The world needs to know the truth about what is happening,” he added.

Zelensky also posted four photos alongside his statement. Two show wounded men. One of the pictures showed a red card of Russian soldiers.

The place of birth in this document is given as Turan, Tuva Republic, which is near Mongolia.

The intelligence service said that when the prisoners were captured, one of the soldiers had a Russian military ID card in the name of someone registered in the Republic of Tuva. One had no papers at all.

The intelligence services said that when the soldier holding the ID was questioned, he told the security forces that the document was issued in Russia in the fall of 2024.

He is alleged to have said that at the time, some of the North Korean fighters were training together for one week.

“It is noteworthy that the prisoner… insists that he was supposed to be training, not to fight against Ukraine,” the SBU statement said.

The intelligence service reported that he was born in 2005 and had been working for North Korea as a gunner since 2021.

The second prisoner is reported to have written some of his answers because his jaw was injured, according to the SBU. Intelligence officials said they believe he was born in 1999 and has been working for North Korea as a scout sniper since 2016.

The Geneva Convention states that interrogations of prisoners must be conducted in a language they understand and that prisoners must be protected against public curiosity.

Zelensky’s office said in a statement that the Russians “try to hide that these are soldiers from North Korea by giving them documents that say they are from Tuva or other places under Moscow”.

“But these people are actually Koreans, from North Korea,” said a statement from the president’s office.

In 2014, Russian troops operating in Ukraine – despite the Kremlin’s denials – were sent without identifying their uniforms.

Last year, when President Vladimir Putin was asked about Russia using North Korean troops in its war with Ukraine, he did not deny it. He said it was Russia’s “independent decision”.

In December, South Korean intelligence reported that A North Korean soldier has died, believed to be the first to be arrested while supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine after being taken alive by Ukrainian forces.

Separately, the White House said North Korean forces are facing multiple dangers.

The Security Service of Ukraine said that it is “currently carrying out the necessary investigative measures to find out all the circumstances of the participation of the DPRK military in the Russian war against Ukraine”.

“The investigation is being conducted under the supervision of the General Prosecutor’s Office under Article 437 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (planning, preparing, unleashing and waging a brutal war).”