Ukrainian Forces Capture Wounded North Korean Soldiers In Kursk.
In an unexpected development in the ongoing conflict, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Saturday that two wounded North Korean soldiers have been taken as prisoners of war by Ukrainian troops in Russia’s Kursk Oblast.
The soldiers, now in the custody of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in Kyiv, are receiving “necessary medical assistance” following their capture on the 9th of January. Zelensky expressed his gratitude towards the Ukrainian paratroopers and Special Operation Forces for this “not easy task,” noting that typically, Russian and North Korean forces execute their wounded to obliterate any evidence of North Korean participation in the conflict against Ukraine.
According to the Ukrainian intelligence service, the captured individuals were immediately provided with medical care in accordance with the Geneva Convention. “They are being held in appropriate conditions that meet the requirements of international law,” the SBU confirmed in their statement.
The language barrier presented a unique challenge, as neither of the soldiers speaks Ukrainian, English, or Russian. Consequently, communication has been facilitated through Korean interpreters, with assistance from South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS).
President Zelensky, keen on transparency, has directed the SBU to allow journalists access to the prisoners. In his social media posts on Telegram and X, he emphasized, “The world needs to know the truth about what is happening,” and included photographs of the wounded soldiers and a red Russian military identification card, which listed Turan, in the Tuva Republic near Mongolia, as the place of birth.
The intelligence service further detailed that one of the captives carried a Russian military ID in another person’s name, issued in Tuva during the autumn of 2024. The other soldier had no documents whatsoever. When interrogated, the soldier with the ID claimed he was issued the document during a brief one-week training session for North Korean combat units in Russia, under the impression they were going for training rather than combat.
The soldier reportedly stated he was born in 2005 and had been serving as a rifleman for North Korea since 2021, shedding light on the secretive involvement of North Korean forces in the region.
This incident not only underscores the complex alliances and tactics in the ongoing war but also brings to the forefront the international implications of such military engagements.
