KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces captured two North Korean soldiers who were fighting alongside Russian troops in the border region of Kursk in Russia, announced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday.
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Zelenskyy made the comments days after Ukraine began to press new attacks in Kursk to hold onto the territory captured in a lightning raid in August that resulted in the first occupation of Russian territory since World War II.
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The Moscow counterattack has left the Ukrainian forces overwhelmed and demoralized, killing and injuring thousands and recapturing over 40% of the 984 square kilometers (380 square miles) of Kursk that Ukraine had taken.
"Our soldiers have captured North Korean soldiers in Kursk. There are two soldiers who, although injured, survived, were taken to Kiev, and are communicating with Ukrainian security services," Zelenskyy said in a post on the messaging app Telegram.
He shared photos of two men resting on stretchers in a room with barred windows. Both were wearing bandages, one around his jaw and the other around both hands and wrists.
Zelenskyy indicated that capturing the soldiers alive "was not easy." He stated that the Russian and North Korean forces fighting in Kursk have tried to conceal the presence of North Korean soldiers, including killing wounded comrades on the battlefield to prevent their capture and interrogation by Kiev.
A senior Ukrainian military official said last month that hundreds of North Korean troops fighting alongside Russian forces in Kursk have been killed or injured in battle.
The official was providing the first significant estimate of North Korean casualties, which came several weeks after Ukraine announced that Pyongyang had sent 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia to assist it.
The White House and the Pentagon confirmed last month that North Korean forces have been fighting in primarily infantry positions. They have been engaging with Russian units and, in some cases, independently around Kursk.