Two North Korean soldiers fighting in Russia were captured by Ukrainian troops this week, giving officials “irrefutable evidence” that the two countries are allied in the war against Ukraine, officials announced on Saturday.
The two injured prisoners of war, believed to be 20 and 26 years old, were captured in Russia’s Kursk region and are cooperating with Ukrainian security officials while receiving medical attention, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a social media post.
“This task was not an easy one,” Zelensky wrote in his post.
“Usually Russians and other North Korean soldiers finish off their wounded and do everything to ensure that no evidence of the participation of another state — North Korea — in the war against Ukraine is preserved.”
Zelensky thanked the special operations group that captured one of the men on Thursday and the paratroopers who caught the other one.
It was unclear when the other capture occurred and which group captured which soldier.
The 20-year-old fighter had on him the Russian military ID card of someone from the remote Siberian region of Tuva, according to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
The soldier said it was issued to him in Russia last year, before he was sent for a week of training.
The soldier, who served as a rifleman for the North Korean army since 2021, claimed he thought he was going to Europe for training and not a “full-scale invasion,” the SBU said on Telegram.
His 26-year-old countryman, who was captured without any ID, said he served in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s army since 2016 as a sniper-reconnaissance officer.
Zelensky shared photos online showing the two men on bunks in holding cells, the younger with both with their hands bandaged and the older one with his head wrapped because of a jaw injury.
“I have instructed the Security Service of Ukraine to provide journalists with access to these prisoners,” Zelensky said.
“The world must know what is happening.”
Ukrainian troops first captured a North Korean soldier in late December, but he died soon after as a result of his wounds.
The SBU said it was continuing to investigate North Korea’s participation in the war, which Russia launched against Ukraine almost three years ago.
In October, Kyiv announced that North Korea had sent up to 12,000 troops to assist Russia after Ukraine seized a portion of the Kursk region two months earlier.
Since then, Ukraine has lost about 40% of the territory it gained and an estimated 3,000 North Korean troops have been killed in perilous fighting.
The alliance between Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un has been condemned by Western leaders, who Zelensky has criticized for doing “almost nothing” to counter.
