Ukraine, North Korea and Kursk
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the wounded North Korean soldiers were taken to Kyiv and are communicating with Ukrainian officials.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he’s willing to hand over the soldiers to North Korea, if Kim Jong Un arranges for an exchange with Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia.
Ukraine captured two wounded North Korean soldiers who were fighting on behalf of Russia in a Russian border region, South Korea’s intelligence service said.
Videos of captured North Korean troops posted online by Ukrainian President Zelensky show them admitting that they thought they were being sent on an exercise.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a video showing the apparent interrogation of two North Korean soldiers captured alive in the war.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this month that as many as 4,000 North Korean troops have been killed or wounded in recent weeks, with only two captured alive. Both men were wounded and transferred to custody in Kyiv, where Zelenskyy said they are being interrogated and treated for their injuries.
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Western officials have told the BBC that North Korean troops have already suffered nearly 40% casualties in the fighting in Russia's western Kursk region, in just three months.
"I didn't even know who we were fighting against," the captured soldier from Pyongyang told Ukraine's Security Service.
A South Korean lawmaker said Seoul's intelligence showed some 3,000 North Korean troops have been wounded or killed in Kursk.
(Reuters) - Russia signed a strategic partnership treaty with Iran on Friday that follows similar pacts with China and North Korea. All three countries are adversaries of the United States, and Russia has used its ties with them to help blunt the impact of Western sanctions and boost its war effort in Ukraine.