Zelensky says he will send North Korean soldiers home in exchange for Ukrainian POWs
Ukraine’s Security Service announced on Saturday that it had captured two North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region.
President Zelensky stated that he is willing to return the two captured North Korean soldiers in exchange for Ukrainian prisoners. His comments came after Ukraine’s Security Service (SSU) confirmed the capture of the two soldiers in the Russian region of Kursk.
“If Kim Jong Un remembers these citizens of his and is capable of organizing an exchange for our warriors detained in Russia, we are ready to transfer these soldiers. Undoubtedly, there will be more North Korean POWs,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address.
Zelensky noted that the two men are still being interrogated by the SSU with the assistance of Korean translators. One soldier has expressed his desire to return to North Korea, while the other has indicated a preference to remain in Ukraine.
“For those North Korean soldiers who do not wish to return, other options may be available,” Zelensky added. SSU spokesperson Artem Dekhtyarenko said in a video statement on Saturday that the two unnamed men were taken to Kyiv for questioning and medical care. “They are being held in appropriate conditions that meet the requirements of international law. The prisoners do not speak Ukrainian, English, or Russian, so communication with them is conducted through Korean interpreters.”
At the time of their capture, one of the foreigners was carrying a Russian military ID issued under the name of another person registered in the Republic of Tuva, Dekhtyarenko revealed.
Pyongyang has not commented on the capture of the two soldiers, and North Korea has not publicly confirmed deploying troops to support Russia’s war effort. However, Dekhtyarenko claimed on Saturday that their capture is “irrefutable proof” of North Korean involvement in the conflict.
North korean troop losses in Russia’s war
A senior Ukrainian military official said last month that approximately 200 North Korean soldiers had been killed or injured. This was the first significant estimate of North Korean casualties, provided weeks after Ukraine reported that Pyongyang had sent between 10,000 and 12,000 troops to Russia to support its nearly three-year war against its much smaller neighbor.
The White House and Pentagon confirmed last month that North Korean forces have been fighting on the front lines, primarily in infantry positions. They have been engaged alongside Russian units and, in some cases, independently in areas around Kursk.
On Monday morning, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, citing the country’s intelligence agency, reported that 300 North Korean soldiers had died in the fighting, with approximately 2,700 wounded.
The news agency also stated that South Korea’s intelligence agency reported that North Korean troops are being urged by their Russian commanders to commit suicide rather than risk capture by Ukrainian forces.