Two North Korea soldiers captured alive in Russia as Ukrainian secret service quiz PoWs for vital info, Zelensky says
President Volodymyr Zelensky has declared that UKRAINE had seized two North Korean soldiers alive in the Kursk region.
Since Kim Jong Un dispatched his troops to battle for Vladimir Putin, these injured men are the first to be taken alive.
They are currently helping the SBU, the Ukrainian secret service, in Kyiv.
“Our soldiers have captured North Korean military personnel in the Kursk region,” Zelensky said on X.
“Despite their injuries, two soldiers made it to Kyiv and are currently in contact with the Ukrainian Security Service.
“This was not a simple task: in order to remove any indication that North Korea was involved in the conflict with Ukraine, Russian forces and other North Korean military personnel typically execute their wounded.
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“I express my gratitude to our paratroopers and the members of Tactical Group No. 84 of the Armed Forces of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces for apprehending these two persons.
“These two North Korean soldiers are getting the medical care they require, just like any other prisoners of war.
“I have directed the Ukrainian Security Service to allow media to visit these detainees.
“The world needs to know the truth about what is happening.”
The Russians provided the North Koreans with false identities under the guise of being from a distant area of Siberia, as evidenced by the military card of one of the men who were taken prisoner.
This tactic was previously revealed when Ukrainian servicemen examined North Korean war dead.
A fake Russian named Antonin Ayasovich Arankyn, who was born in the Republic of Tuva on October 3, 1998, is delivered to one of the prisoners.
According to his document, he is unmarried, has completed secondary school, and works as a tailor.
The Pyi-Khemsky district Military Commissariat of Tuva, a mountainous Russian region that borders Mongolia, issued the ID.
The other was document-free.
Ukrainians are certain that the prisoners are North Koreans.
According to the SBU, none of the soldiers in captivity speak Russian, English, or Ukrainian.
According to the soldier posing as Russian, he was given this when he was sent to fight in the conflict.
The DPRK [North Korean] soldier who was discovered in possession of the ticket [ID paper] admitted to SBU officers during questioning that he had received it in Russia in the fall of 2024, according to the SBU.
He said that for a week at that time, some of the North Korean combat troops were coordinated with Russian organizations.
One of them was born in 2005, has been a shooter, and has been in the North Korean military since 2021.
The other was born in 1999 and has been a reconnaissance sniper in the DPRK army since 2016.
Vladimir Putin has made an effort to conceal from his citizens the fact that he has had to enlist 11,000 or more North Korean combatants.
This method seems to include providing them with phony Russian identification documents.
Nearly 4,000 of the 11,000 dispatched to the conflict had been dead or injured, according to Zelensky’s earlier statements.
North Koreans who have been caught in the past have died within hours from serious injuries.
In the area of Russia’s Kursk region that Ukrainian forces have controlled since October, the Kim fighters are employed in meat-grinder attacks.
Despite its small victories, Russia has not been able to drive Ukrainian forces out of this region.
There will be more later.Stay tuned to The Sun Online for the most recent updates on this story.
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