Ukraine says it captured two North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk

Two North Korean soldiers were being interrogated by investigators in Kiev, Russia, claim they were taken by Ukraine, who claims they were.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the two prisoners of war were “communicating” with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the country’s domestic intelligence agency.

According to Zelenskyy, “Russian forces and other North Korean military personnel typically execute their wounded to remove any links to North Korea’s involvement in the war.”

One of the captured soldiers had no identification, according to Ukraine’s SBU, while the other had a Russian military ID card identifying a man from Tuva, a Russian bordering Mongolia, on their hands.

“The prisoners do not speak Ukrainian, English or Russian, so communication with them takes place through Korean translators in cooperation with South Korean intelligence”, the statement said.

One of the soldiers claimed he had been informed that he would instead fight against Ukraine and instead go to Russia for training.

According to the organization, both men received medical care in accordance with Geneva Conventions.

The captured soldiers’ representatives from North Korea were not confirmed by Ukraine.

Kyiv has repeatedly said North Korean troops are fighting in the Kursk region, where it launched an incursion&nbsp, in August, claiming control over several hundred square kilometres of territory.

The nation’s intelligence services have had the opportunity to question North Korean soldiers for the first time, though. The North Korean soldiers were allegedly badly wounded and died shortly after Ukraine claimed to have captured them in a battle.

A senior Ukrainian military official claimed last month that 200 North Korean soldiers fighting alongside Russian forces in Kursk had been killed or wounded in combat.

Following Ukraine’s announcement that Pyongyang had sent 10, 000 to 12, 000 soldiers to Russia to aid it in its nearly three-year conflict with its much smaller neighbor, the figure was estimated to be higher.