The Armed Forces of Ukraine captured two North Korean military personnel in the Russian Kursk Oblast, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on 11 January.

According to Zelenskyy these were two soldiers who, although injured, survived and were taken to Kyiv, where they are now speaking with investigators of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

The Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense previously reported that the first units of North Korean military personnel arrived in the Russian-Ukrainian war zone on 23 October 23. The Intelligence Directorate reported about 12,000 North Korean military personnel in Russia. They reportedly have been trained for the fighting with Ukrainian Forces in the Kursk Oblast.

“This was not an easy task: usually Russians and other North Korean military personnel finish off their wounded and do everything to ensure no evidence remains of another state’s – North Korea’s – participation in the war against Ukraine,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.

Zelenskyy instructed the SBU to provide journalists with access to the prisoners. “The world needs to know what is happening,” the president remarked.

According to Zelenskyy, the warriors of tactical group No. 84 of the Special Operations Forces and  paratroopers captured these two individuals. “Like all prisoners, these two North Korean soldiers are receiving necessary medical care,” he added.

Russian authorities have not yet officially commented on this information.

Ukrainian intelligence claimed in November that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have already engaged in combat with North Korean troops in Russia’s Kursk Oblast. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that North Korean are experiencing the heavy losses.

NATO strongly condemned the expansion of military cooperation between Russia and North Korea. The alliance emphasized that sending North Korean troops is a dangerous escalation and violates UN Security Council resolutions.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, during his visit to Kyiv on 9 November, said that the presence of North Korean troops at the front poses an additional threat and emphasized the need for diplomatic pressure on Pyongyang.

Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi said on 1 January that the total Russian army losses in the Kursk Oblast amounted to over 38,000 personnel and more than a thousand units of equipment.

Read also:

• Forbes: Up to 400 Russo-North Korean troops lost in single attack on Ukrainian positions in Kursk
• Ukrainian SOF eliminate 13 North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk Oblast
• North Korean troops fall easy prey to Ukrainian drones in partly occupied Russia’s Kursk Oblast