LIVE – War in Ukraine: Zelensky wants to exchange North Korean soldiers captured in Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was “ready” on Sunday to hand over to Pyongyang, in exchange for Ukrainian soldiers imprisoned in Russia, the two North Korean soldiers that kyiv has just captured in the Russian region of Kursk.

“Ukraine is ready to hand over its soldiers to Kim Jong Un if he can organize their exchange for our fighters who are detained in Russia,” Mr. Zelensky wrote on his X account.

kyiv announced on Saturday that it had taken prisoner two wounded North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces have occupied several hundred km2 since last August.

The LCI teams went to Lyman (Ukraine), in the Donetsk oblast, where war wounded are receiving treatment. Most were hit by drones. Discover our video report.

The Russian army claimed this Sunday the capture of two localities on the front in eastern Ukraine, where it has been progressing slowly but constantly for months against fewer Ukrainian troops.

In a statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said that units of the “South” grouping had captured the village of Yantarne, in the Donetsk region. This locality is located about ten kilometers southwest of Kurakhové, an important Ukrainian stronghold which Moscow claimed to have seized on Monday after weeks of fighting.

LCI went to Lyman, in the Donetsk oblast, to a center which treats the wounded on the front. Most were hit by drones. Reporting.

Vladimir Putin on Saturday awarded Russia’s highest decoration to a Russian soldier who authorities say killed a Ukrainian soldier during hand-to-hand combat. The Russian president awarded the title of Hero of Russia to Andrei Grigoriev for “his courage and heroism”, the Kremlin said.

Russian military bloggers published a video in early January filmed by a GoPro-type camera worn by a Ukrainian soldier. In the images, this soldier advances towards a house, then an exchange of fire begins and he throws a grenade inside the building. A Russian soldier comes out and the two men begin to fight with their bare hands and knives. The soldier carrying the camera, who shouts cries for help in Ukrainian, asks his adversary at the end of the video to let him die in peace and says in particular “goodbye, mother”.

South Korean intelligence confirmed this Sunday that Ukraine had captured two North Korean soldiers in the Russian region of Kursk, and said it was participating in their interrogation alongside Ukrainian services. “The National Intelligence Service (NIS), through real-time cooperation with the Intelligence Agency of Ukraine (SBU), confirmed that the Ukrainian army captured two North Korean soldiers on January 9 on the Kursk battlefield, Russia,” the NIS said in a statement.

The SBU released a video on Saturday showing the two men in hospital bunks, one with his hands and the other with his jaw bandaged. A doctor at the detention center said the first man also had a broken leg.