“Thought it was a training, not a battle”: Ukraine published the first testimonies of captured North Korean soldiers

Ukraine shared the first evidence of the capture of North Korean soldiers during the fighting on the Russian side in the Kursk region, naming them a”irrefutable” evidence of North Korea’s participation in Russia’s war against Ukraine.

the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyi and the country’s counterintelligence agency announced on Saturday that two wounded North Korean soldiers had been taken into custody. The fighters were sent to Kyiv for medical assistance and questioning.

Read also: “Evidence of involvement”: Zelensky says that Ukraine captured two North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) released a video showing two prisoners. According to the SBU, one of the fighters was captured by Ukrainian special forces on January 9, and the other was detained by paratroopers.

“They are being held in conditions that comply with international law,” said the SBU spokesman.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) helps Ukrainian authorities communicate with North Korean soldiers

The video shows two men lying on bunk beds in a cell. One appears to have a jaw injury, and the other has a broken leg.

– the SBU reported What the soldiers do not speak English, Ukrainian, or Russian. Thus, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) helps the Ukrainian authorities communicate with them.

One serviceman, born in 1999, serves in scout sniper officer since 2016. Due to an injury to his jaw, he had to record his testimony.

N Korean soldiers say they only trained for a week with Russian forces before deployment

The SBU also reported that one of the men had a Russian military ID in the name of another person from Tuva. Russia. According to the soldier’s statement, he received the document in Russia in the fall of 2024. The soldier claimed that some North Korean units only trained for a week with Russian forces before deploying.

The second soldier was found without any documents. He told investigators he had served in the North Korean military and believed he had been sent to Russia for training, not combat.

Earlier, the Ukrainian military announced that they seized fake identity documents from North Korean soldiers who died in the Kursk region.

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“This was not an easy task: Russian troops and other North Korean military personnel routinely execute their wounded to erase any evidence of North Korea’s involvement in the war against Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X.

“I instructed the SBU to give journalists access to these prisoners. The world must know the truth about what is happening,” he added.

(Courtesy of agencies)