South Korean intelligence said Ukraine detained two wounded North Korean soldiers who were fighting for Russia in a Russian border area, confirming an account from a source. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on saturday.
Seoul's National Intelligence Service (NIS) He told AFP It confirmed that the Ukrainian army captured two North Korean soldiers on January 9 on the Kursk battlefield in Russia.
This confirmation comes after Zelensky said in a post on the messaging app Telegram that the two captured North Korean soldiers were injured and transferred to Kiev, where they are communicating with the Ukrainian security services SBU.
The State Security Department released a video that appears to show the two prisoners on beds inside prison cells. The authenticity of the video could not be independently verified.
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In this unverified photo shared by the Ukrainian military, a captured North Korean soldier with injuries appears to be sitting on a bed inside a cell. (Military Bulletin of Ukraine)
A doctor interviewed in the Ukrainian Security Service video said that one of the soldiers had a facial wound, while the other soldier had an open wound and a broken lower leg. Both men were receiving medical treatment.
In this unverified photo shared by the Ukrainian military, a captured North Korean soldier with injuries appears to be lying on a bed inside a cell. (Military Bulletin of Ukraine)
The DSS also said that one of the soldiers had no documents at all, while the other carried a rifle Russian military identity A card in the name of a man from Tuva, a Russian region on the border with Mongolia.
The Ukrainian military says the North Korean soldiers are wearing Russian uniforms and carrying fake military ID cards in their pockets, a scheme that Andrei Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine's military intelligence agency, says could mean Moscow and its “representatives at the United Nations can deny the facts.” “
Despite assurances from Ukraine, the United States, and South Korea that Pyongyang sent between 10,000 and 12,000 troops to fight alongside Russia in the Kursk border region, Moscow has never publicly acknowledged this. North Korean forces.
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While reports of their presence first emerged in October, Ukrainian forces only confirmed their participation on the ground in December.
Zelensky on Thursday put the number of North Koreans killed and wounded at about 4,000, although US estimates are lower, at about 1,200.
Soldiers at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, on October 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Jun Cheol Jin, File)
Despite North Korea's losses and initial inexperience on the battlefield, Ukrainian soldiers, military intelligence and experts point out that first-hand experience will only help them develop further as a fighting force.
“For the first time in decades, the North Korean army is gaining real military experience,” Yusov said. “This is a global challenge – not only for Ukraine and Europe, but for the whole world.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
