Zelenskyy ready to swap North Korean troops for Ukrainian POWs

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he’s prepared to return to two captured North Korean soldiers to Pyongyang in exchange for Ukrainian prisoners of war held in Russia.

That statement comes after the Security Service for Ukraine (SSU) announced on Saturday that it had captured two soldiers from North Korea in Russia’s Kursk region.

“If Kim Jong Un even remembers these citizens of his and is capable of organising an exchange for our warriors held in Russia, we are ready to transfer such soldiers. Undoubtedly, there will be more North Korean POWs,” Zelesnkyy said in his nightly video address.

Zelenskyy said the two men are still being interrogated by the SSU with help of Korean translators and one of the men has reportedly said he wants to return to North Korea while the other indicated he wished to remain in Ukraine.

“For those North Korean soldiers who do not wish to return, there may be other options available,” Zelenskyy said.

SSU spokesperson Artem Dekhtyarenko said in a video on Saturday that the two unnamed men had been transferred to Kyiv for questioning and medical attention.

“They are held in proper conditions that meet the requirements of international law. The prisoners do not speak Ukrainian, English or Russian, so communication with them takes place through Korean interpreters. At the time of his capture, one of the foreigners had a Russian military ID card issued in the name of another person registered in the Republic of Tuva,” he said.

There has been no comment from Pyongyang about the capture of the two soldiers but North Korea hasn’t publicly confirmed it has sent troops to support Russia’s war effort.

Dekhtyarenko said on Saturday their capture is “indisputable evidence” of North Korean involvement in the war.

A senior Ukrainian military official said last month that around 200 North Korean troops fighting alongside Russian forces in Kursk have been killed or wounded 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 help it in its almost 3-year war against its much smaller neighbour.

The White House and Pentagon last month confirmed that the North Korean forces have been battling on the front lines in largely infantry positions.

They have been fighting with Russian units and, in some cases, independently around Kursk.

On Monday morning, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency quoting the country’s spy agency said 300 North Korean soldiers had been killed in fighting with around 2,700 wounded.

The news agency also said that South Korea’s spy agency had said North Korean troops are urged by their Russian commanders to kill themselves rather than risk capture by Ukrainian forces.