Two North Korean soldiers were captured in the Kursk region and brought back to kyiv for interrogation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday.
“It was not an easy task.” According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, two North Korean soldiers were taken prisoner by Ukrainian troops. Captured in the Kursk region in Russia, they were transferred to kyiv where they underwent interrogation. “These are two soldiers who, although injured, survived and were transported to kyiv where they are speaking with investigators from the SBU,” the Ukrainian security services, the Ukrainian president said on Telegram.
“It was not an easy task: usually, the Russians and other North Korean soldiers finish off their wounded and do everything to erase evidence of the participation of another state, North Korea, in the war against ‘Ukraine,’ he continued.
Photos of the two alleged soldiers in detention
To illustrate his remarks, the leader accompanied his message with photos of the two soldiers presumed to be in detention. On the latter, the two soldiers appear injured. One wearing bandages around his hands, the other around his chin. But according to the Ukrainian leader, the prisoners in question receive “all the necessary help” for their recovery.
-To prove his good faith, Volodymyr Zelensky ordered the intelligence services (SBU) to give the press access to the detainees because “the world must know what is happening”.
The detention of these detainees on Ukrainian soil is also a way for President Zelensky to prove the North Korean presence on the Russian border. A presence that he had already denounced in mid-December with the following statements: “There is preliminary information indicating that the Russians have started using soldiers from North Korea in assaults – in a notable quantity, he had hammered before continuing. The Russians integrate them into combined units and use them in operations in the Kursk region. For now, just in this place. But we have information stating that they could be used in other parts of the front.
According to kyiv, 12,000 North Korean soldiers, including around 500 officers, are in the Kursk region, of which the Ukrainian army has occupied several hundred square kilometers since August. Neither Russia nor North Korea have confirmed the presence of this contingent.
